I'm Yours, You're Mine
by District4-divergent-nephilim
Summary: I am a victor. I fought hard for my freedom in the arena, but like so many others, the Capitol made me pay the consequences. I am Victoria Shores, victor of the 61st Hunger Games, and this is my story. BTW, everything is pushed back ten years, so Finnick won the 55th, etc. Katniss/Peeta still win the 74th, though. Rated T because people die violently in the arena. (Duh)
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, so this is my first story, so I'm super excited about it! But please, no flames, because I'm new! And yes, the name Azula is from Avatar: The Last Airbender. Azul means blue in Spanish, so the name is connected with water. That's also why Azula shoots blue flames. I let my friend read this chapter before I submitted it, and she asked me what Azula meant, so that's why I'm telling you.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games. I don't own this story either, even though I wrote it. What, you think I'm some sort of child genius? I don't know how to reserve rights on something.**

"ViVi, wake up, it's Reaping day, you have to get dressed," Azula screams from the doorway. She's right, of course, but I need to be rested if I do end up going to the Capitol, but that's not going to happen. I know the girl who is going to volunteer this year is one of my old friends from elementary school, Remora Phillips. Even if Azula or I get reaped she'll volunteer, so my father and I can breathe easy another year.

I jump out of bed and go downstairs. After eating, I rush upstairs to take a shower. I dry my hair and brush it as I put on my underclothes. Sitting on my bed, I call Azula upstairs and ask her to mermaid-braid my hair. She obliges, sort of unwillingly, but she sits down on the chair by my bed and starts braiding. It takes her at least twenty minutes, because my hair is waist-length, but when she is done I thank her and slide on my knee-length sea-green dress that matches my eyes perfectly.

"I know exactly what Marlin will say about your dress!" Azula teases, who I share a room with. "Oh, you do, do you? Well then, spit out what you think Marlin will say about it," I ask. She hesitates, and I smirk, but then she smiles triumphantly. "Oh, I know exactly what he'll say, or at least something close to his exact words. He'll be all sappy, like 'That dress is beautiful, but not as beautiful as you are!' I bet you a hair ribbon he'll say that," she says confidently.

I shrug, because only he would say something like that, and then I head to the twins' room to fix their hair. They're both too young too young to be reaped, but they are smart enough to realize something bad happens at the reaping, and whatever it is it scares them. They insist I do their hair today to calm them down. I knock gently on their door, then open it and enter quietly. The twins are on the floor doing a puzzle that Marlin got them for their birthday. When they see me, both stand up so quickly Coral steps onto the puzzle, effectively breaking it back into a million pieces. She starts to cry, so I go over and hug her.

"Stop crying, kiddo, it's alright. We can fix when we get back from the reaping,'' I say. "Can you do my hair first,'' she shout, trying to be louder than the noise coming from outside the window. I nod, and then laugh because I know who is making the noise. "It's Marlin on his moped, ViVi," Pearl shrieks with obvious delight. Both of the twins adore Marlin. We quickly hatch a plan to act like we didn't hear him arrive, and then I start to braid Coral's hair.

"I want to how long it takes for you to fix it. Can I use your watch, ViVi?" Coral asks. I take off the watch Marlin bought for me for my birthday last year and set the time. She pushes the start button, and I finish French-braiding her hair a few minutes later, weaving in a green ribbon through it as I do.

I fish tail Pearl's hair next and I am just putting in the hair band the door swings open and Azula steps in. After clearing her throat, she says in a deep voice "Announcing his royal highness, victor of the 58th Annual Hunger Games, District 4's very own Marlin Shores." She steps to the side, bowing and sweeping her hands toward the doorway. Marlin steps into the room, looking like an idiot waving with his hand cupped like a princess and wearing a ridiculous grin on his handsome face.

The twins gasp and start clapping. He laughs, walks over to hug them, and then kisses me on the cheek. I blush and look at Azula, who is frowning as much as one person can possibly frown. Marlin is her idol, and she has a big crush on him. It doesn't matter though, because he's my boyfriend, and he's way too old to marry her, in my opinion, at seven years older. Besides, if they did get married, she'd have to stand on a stool for the kiss-the-bride part.

He steps back to look at my dress. "Your dress is a beautiful color, but not as beautiful as the color of your eyes," he says. Azula smirks and I roll my eyes. He turns and sees the look on her face before she can turn her smirk into a smile. "ViVi and I made a bet that you would say something like that. You owe me a hair ribbon, ViVi!" she says. He whispers to me that he'll buy me another ribbon to replace the one I just lost loud enough for Azula to hear. "Marlin, you don't have to buy me another one. I couldn't care less about that ribbon,' I say.

"So, Marlin, are you mentoring this year?" Azula asks. "I would mentor if you or the twins were tributes. It might make me try harder to bring home a victor. But no, I think Finnick and Mags are mentoring this year. I think I'm mentoring next year,' he says, shrugging. Azula looks pleased that Marlin cares about her so much. I make a mental note to tell Marlin to watch out for her.

Marlin taps my shoulder and leans down. "If you're done thinking about how hot I am, I have something to ask you. Could we talk in private?" he whispers in my ear. "That wasn't what I was thinking about, but okay." I tell Azula to help the twins pick out what they're going to wear to the reaping before following him to my bedroom.

I sit on my bed and Marlin sits on my floor. "You know, my chair isn't going to bite you if you sit in it," I say jokingly. "Yeah, your chair doesn't have teeth, but your carpet is soft," he counters. "Wow, that's a good one! I think I'll write it down in my book full of great compliments given to me by Marlin Shores. It'll definitely make the top ten. Your carpet is soft," I say sarcastically. "Oh, and since when did the great Victoria Marino get a job as a lowly critic?" "I got a job as a lowly critic when I started dating you." That shuts him up real quick.

"So, you wanted to ask me something, right?" I ask, going back to the original subject. "Oh, yeah," he stammers, turning beet red. "Before you go on, I would like to point out that your face looks like you sat in the sun all day without any sunscreen. Okay, ask away. But I want to know why you had to ask me in private," I say. "I don't want your sisters to hear," he says. "If you didn't want my sisters to hear, you should have knocked Azula out before we left the twin's room," I point out. Azula is very nosy, and he knows it. "That's fair enough. Now, if you would please stop talking, we've only got an hour until the reaping," he says

He takes a deep breath to collect his cool, then starts speaking. "Okay. This is your last reaping, and I don't have to worry about you getting reaped anymore. And believe me, I worry about that a lot. I told Remora what I was planning to do, and she promised me she would volunteer for you if you got picked. I didn't want to do this before today, because I was afraid something would go wrong, you would get reaped, nobody would volunteer, and then you'd die in the games and all I'd be left with is memories of you," he says quickly.

"After today, you're finally safe from the games, and I don't have to worry about losing you forever," he says. My stomach twists into knots. Does he really love me that much? He stays silent for a moment, gathering his thoughts. All of a sudden, he looks up at me, the expression on his face unreadable. "Victoria Marino, will you marry me?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own THG. Santa better give it to me for Christmas**.

Those seven words render me speechless. I stare at Marlin, who is looking at me with a hopeful look in his eye, until I can get my mouth to open. "I-I…" I stammer, "I love you, I really do, but please… give me some time to think about it." The hopefulness on his face evaporates.

Just then, a crash comes from outside the room, followed by someone sobbing loudly. I'm immediately out the door and running down the stairs. Marlin closes the door behind us and shoots down the stairs after me. There is Pearl, sprawled at the bottom of the stairs. I help my father pick her up and lay her on the couch. Marlin goes to get an icepack in the kitchen. I kneel down beside her. "Pearl, what happened?" I ask her, but it's Azula who answers me, smiling in her usual way.

"Pearl and I were walking down the stairs side-by-side, and she accidentally tripped over my foot." She smiles innocently. Now I'm not bragging or anything, but I'm pretty smart, and I know sabotage when I see it on Azula's face. I glance down at Pearl's foot and see it's pretty bent up. My father is a trained medic, though, so he can take care of Pearl's foot. I, meanwhile, am left to deal with Azula and her attitude.

As soon as Marlin hands my father an icepack, I grab his hand and Azula's arm and pull them into my father's bedroom. I close the door behind me and lock it. "You know, Azula, I'm not as stupid as you look," I practically spit at her. "Oh," Marlin says, in an attempt to clear the air, "you just got schooled, Azul-," "Shut up right now, Marlin," I snap, glaring at him. He backs away, his hand raised in surrender.

"How much of our conversation did you hear, Azula? And the reaping is in an hour, so tell the truth," I ask her. "I don't know what you're talking about, ViVi. I told you the truth. She accidentally tripped over my feet and fell down the stairs." "Don't lie to me Azula, I can tell when you do. I know you have a crush on Marlin. I see you frown every time he kisses me. You practically worship him. 'Marlin this…', 'Marlin that…' Lay off, because he's my man!"

Azula turns redder and redder, but I'm not done yet. "You were eavesdropping on us, don't shake your head. I know you were. You heard him propose to me, and you were so jealous that you pushed Pearl down the stairs. How dare you push her down the stairs! She did nothing to you whatsoever! You are a despicable little girl, you know that? I don't know why you would push a seven year old down the stairs just because your social life isn't turning out the way you want it to!" Out of the corner of my eye, I see Marlin flush and raise an eyebrow at Azula skeptically.

I turn away from her. I feel terrible. I just revealed her deepest secret in front of the boy she likes. She may be mean, but she is my little sister. But instead of felling ashamed, she thinks my anger is comical! "If you don't watch out, your other precious little baby is going to take a tumble down the stairs," she taunts.

I turn back around and narrow my eyes at her. For a twelve year old, she sure n knows how to aggravate people. "If you ever threaten one of them like that again, I will slap you so hard, you'll she stars," I snarl. "The twins are your sisters too, Azula. You need to take care of them, not go out of your way to hurt them. If you keep acting up like this, I will make sure you are sent to the training center. You will train for the rest of your childhood. You won't live in this house and you will only see your family once a year."

It's an empty threat, but she doesn't know that. Tears start to spill out of her eyes before she runs from the room. "That was a bit harsh, ViVi." I totally forgot that Marlin was in here. "I'm tired of her being a bully. She needs to learn how to respect other people," I snap back. "Whatever you say, ViVi. So, do you have an answer to my question yet?" "No, and I will tell you when I do, so stop asking me." He opens his mouth to say something, but then he wisely closes it.

I escort him to the front door and kiss him goodbye. He waves goodbye and speeds off on his moped. He has to be there early because he has to stand on the stage during the reaping, since he's a victor. I go back into the house just in time to see Pearl get to her feet her ankle wrapped tightly with a bandage. Pearl, Coral, and I walk out of the house together, followed by my father and Azula, whose eyes are red and whose mouth is contorted into an angry sneer. We head towards the square, where in less than half an hour, two children will be headed to their death.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games.**

"Ow!" Coral and Pearl squeal as their fingers are pricked and the drop of blood hits the page. Azula has already run into the back of the crowd, to the twelve year old section. I wince as the needle draws blood, but I suck it off as my name pops up on the scanner. "Victoria Marino, 18 y/o." I walk to the eighteen year old section and enjoy the sensation of my last reaping. I immediately notice that the girls around me are chattier than usual.

"What's all the gossip about this time, Pheme?" I ask Pheme, a classmate. I wouldn't really call Pheme a friend. I don't have a lot of friends, mainly just Marlin, Remora, and Annie. "Oh, you didn't hear yet? Well, apparently, Remora went for a swim alone last night, a stupid move on her part, if you asks me, and she got attacked by a shark," she says.

The safe feeling I've had since Marlin promised that Remora would volunteer for Azula or I if either of us were reaped drains from my body. "Is she okay?" I ask hopefully. "Well, she lost an arm, so she won't be to volunteer," she chatters. "I feel really bad for her, I really do; she had a good chance to win, don't you think? Oh no, what's wrong?" she asks me worriedly, Seeing the paleness of my face and the expression projected on it. "Nothing's wrong. I'm just worried about my sister. It's her first year," I say.

But I know that's not why I'm so worried. Marlin was wrong. I am not safe from the reaping anymore. What if Azula gets picked? They don't pick someone to volunteer in the event that something happens to the chosen volunteer. No one will volunteer. She will certainly die: she's never picked up a weapon, except a knife in the kitchen.

I, on the other hand, fish every day after school, so I know how to use a trident, and I'm not bad with knives. If she gets picked, I have to volunteer. Family comes first, even over Marlin. But Marlin would be family if I had said yes when he proposed.

I try to catch Marlin's eyes as he steps onto the stage, but he is purposely looking at elsewhere. Heated anger boils up inside of me. I want to scream every profanity I know at him, but then I would get arrested for harassing a victor, even if he is my boyfriend. He talks to Annie, one of my closest friends, and the victor of last year's games. She went crazy after she saw David, he brother, get decapitated. Poor David, I miss him. He was the only boy besides Marlin in our little group of friends, and Marlin had nightmares for weeks after he came home after being David's mentor. But word on the street has it that Annie's caught the often wandering eye of Finnick Odair, the infamous victor from six years ago.

They talk until the mayor's speech begins. I don't listen to it, though. I could repeat it by now, having heard it for eighteen years. Instead, I try to catch Marlin's eye. His eyes are glued to the screen. The film ends, and the escort, who I don't care about enough to learn her name, says her usual garbage about how great it is to be an escort to District 4's tributes. Finally she says, "Let's mix it up this time, shall we? Boys first! Who will be lucky enough to be District 4's next male tribute?"

She picks up a piece of paper with her three inch long talons. "Ray Bordeaux!" A scrawny little boy from the fourteen year old walks to the stage. When he reaches her, she practically shrieks for volunteers. There is a shout to volunteer, and when a seventeen year old boy steps out of the crowd, a new heartthrob is born. His honey-blonde hair glints in the sun as he makes his way up to the stage. I'm close enough to see his green-blue eyes gaze confidently over the crowd.

I glance up at the victors and see Finnick shaking his head with a look of pity on his face. Annie, on the other hand, has her hand over her ears. Marlin is staring at someone in the crowd. No, he's looking at the seventeen year old section. I realize his brother would be seventeen now if he hadn't been reaped at the age of fourteen the year after Marlin won. He was killed by the other careers.

"My name is River Trinana," the new heartthrob says to the world. The crowd claps, because he looks like he has a pretty good chance to win. The escort walks over to the girl's bowl. Everyone is staring at her, except me. I'm looking at Marlin. She reaches into the bowl and yanks her hand out with a slip of crisp white paper. Please don't be me. Please don't be Azula.

"Victoria Marino!" the escort says. Marlin looks up at me abruptly and tears start streaming down his cheeks. I hold my head high and put a smirk on my face as I walk through the other eighteen year olds. No need for the other tributes to think I'm weak based on reaping footage. As I walk down the aisle to the stairs, I keep my head high even though I can hear the whispers. "Dude, look at Marlin!", "Why's he crying?", "That's his girlfriend, where have you been for the past three years?" I get to the stage and smile sweetly. "Do we have any volunteers for this beautiful young lady?" The crowd stays silent.

The escort looks at the victors on stage. "It looks like you have some of our victors crying. Can you tell us why?" My hands grip my elbows, my nails digging into my skin, but I'm numb to the pain. "Oh, Marlin is my boyfriend. He proposed to me this morning because he didn't know that the chosen volunteer had gotten attacked by a shark last night, and he thought that I was safe from the reaping." "How romantic is that, ladies and gentlemen?" the escort shrieks. River and shake hands, and then we are escorted into the Justice building, where we are supposed to say our last goodbyes to the family that we might never see again once we leave for the Capitol.


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks to Foxface'sSpecialPie and Aliyaahhhh for reading and reviewing! I noticed that the first Chapter got a whopping 28 views, but only two reviews! Come on, people! I mean, when I am a megafamous singer/actress/author, don't you want the bragging rights that come with that? You can tell your friends that you complemented the famous _ _ ( That's my name. You don't need to know it.)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games. I don't feel like coming up with a joke as to why I don't.**

I wonder how many tears were shed on this couch in the minutes it takes for my family gets up here. Azula comes in first, alone. She walks over and kneels in front of me as she looks up at me. I put my hands on her cheeks as the words I knew she would say come out of her mouth. I pull her to her feet and hug her.

"I thought you were mad at me," she says. "I was." "Then why are you hugging me?" she asks. "I didn't say that I didn't love you, I said I was mad at you," I reply. "But you… you were going to get married. Why did they have to pick you? You had an entire plan for your future laid out in front of you," she whispers. "I had? I had? What, you don't think I can win? I am going to get married. I will have a future with Marlin. I'll just be putting it off for a month or so, until I come home," I say.

"Promise you'll come back, ViVi," she cries. "I promise. Promise me that you'll be nice to the twins." She nods. I hug her, and then the door opens. A peacekeeper tells her that her time is up and orders her to leave the room. She latches onto my stomach with her arms. The peacekeeper comes into the room and pulls her away. As she is dragged out, she starts screaming hysterically.

The twins and my father come in next. They're so young, they don't know what's happening, but they know enough to know that I'm in some kind of danger. They sit on either side of me, whispering for me to be safe. I hug them back while I tell my father that he needs to take care of them. My father and I don't agree on anything, except maybe Marlin. He thinks Marlin is the only boy in the entire country who is polite and respectful of his girlfriend's father. I always preferred my mother more.

They walk out when the peacekeeper tells them this time. Pearl starts crying. A minute or two goes by, and I start to worry. What if Marlin doesn't visit me? I have my answer to his question ready. Is he afraid he'll love me too much to watch me die? The door opens, and I sigh with relief, but it's not Marlin. It's Remora. She sits down next to me. Her mutilated stump of an arm hands in the air awkwardly.

"I'm so sorry, ViVi. I shouldn't have gone swimming last night. Marlin told me his plan, and I agreed to help him. We used to train together, and we were good friends. He's had a rough time since his games, and I know that better than anyone. In fact, he told me once that you were the only good thing that has happened to him since he won. If you die now, he'll be crushed," she says.

"I doubt it. He hasn't even come to visit me yet!" I grab a pillow from the couch and start sobbing into it. Remora pats me on the back."He probably doesn't want to get too attached to you just in case you don't win. He's in the victor's conference room downstairs. I'll tell him to come and talk to you," she says, trying to soothe me.

"And what if he doesn't visit me, and then I win? He'll be awfully sorry he didn't visit me when I dump him," I say angrily, my right hand curling into a fist and punching the pillow.. "I'll tell him that. It would kill him if the girl he loves survives against the odds, and then comes home and dumps him. He'll haul butt up here if I tell him that," she says. "Tell him I have to tell him something," I say. She nods and runs out of the room.

A few minutes later, I hear loud footsteps running down the hall. I stand up, close my eyes, wipe the tears on my cheek away with my hand. I hear glass break, the peacekeeper yells, glass breaks again, and the man falls silent. The door opens and then slams closed.

Suddenly I am enveloped in a warm body. I lay my head Marlin's shoulder and hug him tightly. I can feel his warm tears falling onto my shoulder. I pick my head up and untangle myself from his arms, Sitting back down on the couch. His icy blue eyes are wet with tears. "Why are you crying, Marlin?" I ask him softly. "You're going to die. I can't lose you when I just found you. You're the only person who really loves me for me, not just because I'm a victor." His whole family is dead, so technically that's true.

"The twins love you," I says. He smiles weakly. "You know what I mean, ViVi." "Yes, I know what you mean, and I hope you know what I mean when I say I that want at least five children and a beautiful July wedding in the sunset."

He stops moving completely, stunned by what I just said. Then he wraps his arms around me again, but this time it's me who crying, but now they're tears of joy. "Thank you. You don't know how much this means to me," he says. "Actually, I think I do."

"It needs to be official," he says under his breath. He gets down on one knee and opens the small box he has pulled from his pocket. "Victoria Rose Marino, will you marry me?" he asks. I nod, and then I gasp, because in the box is a necklace made of sea-green pearls, almost the exact color of my eyes. He unclips the latch and clips it back around my neck.

"I know you wouldn't remember to put a ring on every morning, so I got you a necklace instead. You can use it as your token," he whispers as he pulls me in for a hug. I kiss him and thank him, and then I realize what he just said. I make a disapproving face, but he just grins and wiggles his eyebrows.

"Oh, I talked to River. He says he wants to win to help his family escape poverty. So I told him that if he protected you in the arena, I would help his family even if he dies. He agreed. And Finnick is your mentor, so he's going to get you sponsors," he says. "Thank you," I whisper.

We stand there, my head on chest, until our time is up. I don't want to think about it, but this may be the last time I ever see him. The peacekeeper calls him. "Do the survival skills. There's always a chance that the cornucopia will only have weapons inside. I don't want you to die of starvation." He hugs me tightly and presses his lips to my forehead. "I'll be waiting for you here," he whispers in my ear before walking out the door.

A few minutes later I am called out as well. River is coming out of his room, too, so I walk out of the building with him. "Thanks, River," I say. He just looks at me and nods. I put on a winning smile for the cameras, because I know it won't hurt my chances to have sponsors.

We walk across the street to the train station. As soon as we get on the train, it starts moving. I run over the window of the dining car. I stare out the window at the quickly fading District 4, trying to take the sight of it into my brain and commit it to memroy, aware that this day may have been the last time I ever see my home, my family, and Marlin ever again.

**So this is being added in from the original chapter due to an amzing thing called editing. I just want to ask... What are you guys being for Halloween? I'm gonna be Isabelle Lightwood. R&R, please!**


	5. Chapter 5

The train ride only takes a few hours, so we sit at an oval-shaped table with our escort, Leona I learn her name is, and our mentors. Finnick Odair insists the River and I tell everyone our life stories so he can tell sponsors all about us. While river tells of his little brother Noah, I stare at Finnick and try to decide why people like him so much.

Finnick notices me staring and grins. "Like what you see, princess?" he says cockily. I roll my eyes. "Nope. Just trying to figure out why a people in the Capitol like you so much," I say superiorly, "and besides, Marlin is your neighbor, you should know that he's my boy- fiancé." "Whatever, princess. Keep telling yourself that," he says.

"Of course, Victoria is already on the minds of many Capitol sponsors, because of your speech at the reaping. Marlin has already informed me of your plan, River," Finnick says, suddenly all business. "Okay, I'm going to my room to take a nap. Try to get some extra sleep before the arena," River says.

When he leaves, Leona pulls out a notepad and starts taking notes. I wrinkle my nose in disgust at her snooty Capitol attitude, but it's not her fault she's from the Capitol, I guess. "So, Victoria- "Call me ViVi. Victoria takes too long to say," I interrupt. "Whatever, princess, I think you need to act brutal and merciless in front of the other Careers- "I'm not a Career," I say bluntly.

Finnick looks at me with a superior look on his face. "But you are from a Career District. Thus, you are a Career. Careers don't show love, and you, by Career standards, have shown way too much love already. So, during training, don't mention Marlin unless the girl from District 1 asks you about him," he says.

I look at him quizzically. "Because they're usually beautiful," Finnick says like it is obvious, "so they usually have boyfriends back home, and most of the time their motivation to win is to prove to their boyfriends that they are strong enough to win, and- "You seem to know a lot about girls from District 1, Finnick," I say. He puffs out his chest and says matter-of-factly, "I'm Finnick Odair, what's your excuse?" I laugh. He asks me if I have ever trained, and I tell him about my skill with tridents and knives.

I tell him that I'm going to learn survival skills, and he argues with me, saying that a Career, I will have the bounty o f the cornucopia. Then I tell him I'm doing them anyway because the cornucopia doesn't always have food, and I don't want to die a long, slow death from starvation. He finally consents, but makes me promise to learn to use some different weapons at training. I give in.


	6. Chapter 6

** Thanks to the people who read. I'll be hoping for some reviews. There are like sixty views, and two reviews. I'm sure none of you like it when people read your story and almost none of them review. Also, thanks to super-ninja-rusher, for following my story Natural Behavior. I think it's my first follower! I'm so excited! **

An hour later, I am gritting my teeth to keep from screaming as my prep team rips the hair off my leg. Like I had any to begin with, people. The one with the purple hair arranged in stars and the red skin calls herself Tabitha. She looks like she is covered in blood.

The man, Filipe, has orange skin, crude black tattoos, and white mohawk. The only one who doesn't make nauseous is Lucretia. Her skin is dark blue, and there are swirling silver flower tattoos. She actually looks kind of pretty, for a Capitol citizen.

The only trouble they give me is when they tell me to flip over and lay at my stomach. "Why is your back so red?!" Lucretia shrieks. "It's called sunburn. It's from staying in the sun too long. It's a common ailment in District 4," I say, annoyed. These people are literally walking graffiti and they think sunburn is odd?

Finally, I put on a robe as I'm told to go down the hallway and enter the room with the door that says 4F on it. I pass 1F and 2F on the way, and I'm tempted to peek inside. I didn't get a chance to see the recap of the reapings, and I'm curious to see what my allies look like. But I restrain myself and enter 4F. There is a table, a wardrobe, and two chairs. I sit in the chair and wait for Liza.

After about ten minutes, she walks into the room carrying a large bag. She puts it in the wardrobe and takes the chair across from me. "So, I heard your speech at the reaping. You didn't make it clear if you said yes, though. Did you?" she asks me. I assure her I did. I realize she looks normal. The only weird part is her hair, a pixy-cut colored a bright teal. And her eyes, which are teal, too. I can tell they are contacts.

"So I'm guessing your favorite color is teal?" I ask. She laughs and nods. "Is that my chariot costume?" She nods, but tells m that we should eat first. She presses a button, and the tabletop splits open to reveal large plates of food. I fill my plate all the way. I need the extra food to store up strength for the arena, after all.

There are sweetmeats, and finger sandwiches piled sky-high on one. In another bowl, sugared fish float in oil. There are about twenty different kinds of caramelized fruits, and a soup that tastes like springtime. "I know we're not going to eat all of this. Where does the excess go?" I ask her. "Actually, I've never really thought to ask." There's no use worrying about that, so I push it out of my mind.

"The parade starts in thirty minutes, so you better get dressed." I slip on my dress, which has a wave design on it. She presses a button. The dress starts rippling. It looks like somebody dropped a pebble into the calm water. She explains that there are tiny fans sewn every few inches in between two layers of the dress.

Liza and I go down to the stables. River is wearing a swimsuit, and nothing else. We still have about twenty minutes until the parade, so we walk over to the tributes form 1 and 2. When we get over there, the boy from 2 claps River on the back. "You volunteered, huh? That's good," he says. Obviously this boy thinks he's going to be the leader of the pack.

"And you are?" I ask him indifferently. "I'm Oliver Quarry, and this is my partner Anna. Anna Sevine," he says, just as indifferently. Oliver is really tall, but not as tall as Marlin, at about 6'2", with light brown hair and hazel eyes. Anna is short, with brown eyes and brown hair.

River and I introduce ourselves. The boy from one has blonde hair and blue-green eyes, which is typical for District 1, but the girl has dark brown hair and green eyes. She introduces herself as Madeline, and her partner as Alistair. Hmm… odd, the tributes from one usually have stupid names like Diamond, Glitter, or Sparkle. I smile and nod.

We get back on our chariot. The crowd cheers loudly for the other Careers, but they go crazy when we come out. Personally, I don't think River and I look that great. But after the parade, I notice some of the other tributes are glaring at us. Let them think whatever they want. In a month, all of them will be dead.

I walk to my room to take a shower. At first, I pick the button for shampoo that smells like 'ocean breeze'. But when I smell it, it smells so much like home it brings tears to my eyes. So twenty minutes later, I'm pulling the covers over my gardenia-scented body.

I take my necklace and put it over my heart. I put it back on. I'm not going to take it off, ever again. I know I need to rest so I can train tomorrow. I drift off slowly, wishing that Marlin was here holding me.

**For my next trick, I will make you all review! Also, I am going on vacation later today, so I will be typing all chapters before hand and then posting them from my mom's phone. I will be gone for seven days, so expect seven chapters with no names. So don't be offended if you review and your name isn't in the next chapter.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Super long chapter! Please R&R! So far, we have about 150 views, but only TWO reviews. Really, people? I almost always review stories that I read. Just ask Foxface'sSpecialPIe. FSP will tell you.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Ganes. I do , however, own the game Hungry, Hungry Hippos, so I'm pretty close to the real thing.**

After breakfast, River and I take the elevator to the basement, where the training center is located. I see Madeline and Anna wave me over. We walk over and make small talk while we wait for the other tributes to arrive. We come to the subject of preferred weapons. Madeline uses throwing knives, Alistair uses spears, Anna is good with a bow and arrows, and Oliver prefers maces. River uses swords, and I use tridents and knives, and maybe something that I don't know yet that I will learn in training.

I present my plan on survival skills, Oliver immediately says no. Anna tries to talk some sense into him. "Come on, Oliver, it's a good idea. Does it matter if she's as good with weapons as we are?" she asks. Then she gives him a pointed. He crumbles and gives in. Is there something between them? I glance at Madeline as raises her eyebrows, but I shrug. If there's anything between them, we'll find out in the arena.

Atala, the young-looking head trainer, clears her throat to quiet all of us down. "Welcome, tributes. As you all probably know, you have two and a half days for training. After lunch on the third day, you will have your private sessions with the gamemakers. They will give you a score on a scale of one to twelve, depending on your abilities. This score is very important, as sponsors will look at these scores when decide who to support." She clears her throat again.

"In the arena, twenty-three of you will die. One of you will not. Who that person is depends on who pays the most attention on these few days." No, it doesn't. No matter how much the District 12 twigs pay attention, I can promise you that they will both die in the bloodbath. "During the bloodbath, everyone wants to grab a sword or a spear or even a small knife, but most of you will die from natural causes. Ten percent from infection. Twenty percent from dehydration and starvation. Exposure can kill as easily as a knife. Five years ago, the arena was a frozen wasteland. Last year it was an abandoned city. The winner of the games will be the only one that can survive whatever the gamemakers throw at them."

On that happy note, she releases us to begin training. I decide I'll do weapons today and survival skills tomorrow, so those stay fresh in my mind. I head over to the spear station and see Alistair. He throws it from fifteen yards away and it hits the center smack dab in the middle. He smirks at the tiny girl from Three, whose face pales and eyes widen when she see the throw.

A spear is basically a simplified trident, so I'm not that bad with it. Actually, I'm pretty good. Of the ten times I throw the spear, only three don't land in the first three rings of the target. I skip the mace station, because even the smallest ones are too big for me to pick up. I join Anna at the archery station. She hits the target dead center every time. I decide to throw tridents for about thirty minutes, until it's time for lunch.

I pick up a light golden one from the rack and twirl it in my hands to get the feel of it, just like I do mine at home. I get a grip, spread my feet apart, put my right arm in front of me (I'm left-handed), and pull back the holding the trident. I take a deep breath, lean forward, and send it sailing through the air. I'm still in release position with my left leg in the air when it hits the human shaped target, right where heart is. I hear clapping, and I turn around to see River slowly bringing his hands together. I smirk.

"I thought you only did swords, River," I say. "Well, today I'm going to try tridents. They are District 4's specialty weapon, didn't you know?" "I had no idea," I reply sarcastically. The lunch bell rings.

While we eat, Madeline asks us all if we have tokens. River pulls a chain with a fishhook on it. Alistair doesn't have one, but Oliver shows off his bracelet made of chain links. I glance at Madeline and she rolls her eyes. I stifle a laugh. Anna has a bracelet, with a charm that says each of her family members' names on them. I read. Mom, dad, Anna, Artemisia, Ian, and Clove.

Madeline has a ring with rainbow colored gems on it. "It's so pretty," I whisper, pointing to the beautiful gem on the top. "Thanks, it's an opal. My father made it for me. He's a jeweler. Do you have a token?" I unclasp my necklace. She and Anna gasp. "It's so pretty. Where did you get it?" "Marlin gave it to me at the goodbyes," I say. I feel tears building in my eyes. I remember Finnick told me not to mention Marlin, but Maddie did ask, so I guess it's okay. "Uh, I think lunch is over," Alistair says.

Anna comes up beside me. "Meet Maddie and I on the roof at 8 o'clock. We're going to tell our mentors that we're discussing strategies, but we're really going to talk about boys. Especially you and Marlin. We both want to know." I nod in agreement. I'm not supposed to talk to Anna about Marlin, but she isn't your typical brutal tribute from District 2. As far as I know, Maddie has a boyfriend back home, and there's definitely something between Anna and Oliver.

The sword station is empty, so I head there. River shows up in about five minutes to give me some pointers that he's learned at the academy. It's nice of him, but swords aren't really my thing. I pay attention though, because I could use some sword skills for the arena

Madeline is at the throwing knives station again (she stayed there all morning), so I go over to her to confirm the meeting. "But while we're up there, we're going to make Anna tell us what's up between her and Oliver," I add. She grins wickedly and admits that she's noticed the way they look at each other. I assure her that I see it too, then pick up a knife from the rack and throw it. It hits the stomach area, on the third ring from the bull's-eye. It's not a bad throw, but Madeline's putting me to shame.

She takes three knives and holds them in her left hand. She throws them so fast they become blurs in the air. All three are in the air before the first one hits the target. All three land in the dead center on the target. One hits the dummy in the head, another in the neck, and the last one in the heart. I whistle and she laughs.

"Wow! Can you throw backwards?" I ask. "Yep!" she says brightly, like it's perfectly normal. No normal teenager could do that, but then again, neither of us is normal. We are both less than half a week from possibly dying. She lines herself up with the target, turns around, and readies her knife. She flings it towards the target as she turns back around. It lands half a millimeter from the center of the target.

I clap, and she waves her hand in the air like a princess. I almost collapse onto the bench. Marlin did that on the day of the reaping. The pang of longing hits me from nowhere. Why is it so real all of a sudden? Maddie's smile falters, and she rushes over to me and asks if I need her to get a medic. I shake my head, but I know she can tell something's wrong.

The bell rings, signaling the end of training. I ride up the elevator to Level Four. As I eat dinner with Finnick, I tell him about the rooftop plan. "District 2 is there? I don't think so!" he says. I give him a look. "She's not a brutal career like you assume she is. I think she loves her district partner, Oliver," I tell him. The fork in his hand drops to the table.

"She loves him? That's new. I wonder if Brutus, Tara, and Lyme know this." "I don't know, but don't tell them. I don't want her to get in trouble." "Fine, you can go." I run to my room to take a shower. I put on simple black pants and an ocean blue tunic. Then I get on the elevator and head to the roof.

**A: So, do you see the similarities between characters in this story and in THG, CF, and MJ? Oliver is big and tough like Cato. Anna is skilled with a bow like Katniss, but she has the personality of Rue, or maybe Prim. Madeline is like Clove's twin when it comes to skills and appearance, but she has a personality like Madge. I drew from the book to form characters, but each has a few unique changes. For instance, all of the people in these games (except River and Victoria) were modeled after members of my seventh grade class. We were all girls, so I had to change some names. (Like Allison to Alistair, Olivia to Olivia, Emily to Emil, Brandi to Brandon, etc.) The characters actually look like the people I named them after. For instance, Olivia (Olliepop G, that's you if you're reading this, which I know you probably aren't because you don't read) has light brown hair and hazel eyes, same as Olivia. If you happen to review, please tell me who your favorite career is so far (Not Victoria).**

**Until next time, enjoy! R&R, PLEASE!**


	8. Chapter 8

**I'm having a great time, except that I hate sand. It's weird, considering my username and my favorite district. But, I'm weird like that, and who besides me cares what I like and don't like?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games. I just own a hunger games T-shirt, a board game, four posters, a calender, a tribute training shirt, a mockingjay shirt, and 5 noteboooks.**

Maddie is already in the elevator, and she tells me she checked on floor 2, and Oliver had told her that Anna went up there five minutes ago. Her dark, wavy is held back with a seashell clip. I have to get a clip like that. Oh well, I can definitely get one once I'm a victor. We walk into the garden and find Anna sitting on a bench. We sit on either side of her.

"Hey, guys. So, tell us about Marlin, Victoria," she says. "Okay, but first, Maddie and I want to know what's up between you and Oliver," I reply. Anna pales and tries to get up, but Maddie and I sat on either side of her for a reason. She grumbles and sits back down.

"Fine, I'll tell you. Oliver and I used to be sparring buddies. We were best friends. When the academy threw parties and dances, we always went together. We trained and ate lunch together every day. I never thought we would be in the same games. I'm only sixteen, so I didn't think I would win the trials back home, but I was the only girl that used long-range weapons, besides the one that broke her arm a week before the trials, so I won. And he did, too.

"He knows I have enough skill to win the games, and I know he does too. If I didn't volunteer at the reaping, who knows what the training center would have done to me and my family. I only volunteered this year because I had to. Oliver thinks it's great that we're here together. An ally he can trust, you know? Someone he knows won't betray him. But what if we're in the final two together? I don't want to kill him. He's my best friend." She sniffles, tears in her eyes.

"I'm sure that he's thought about the same thing, but if he thinks it's great that both of you are here for the same games when you both have a good chance of winning, then he's not your best friend," says Maddie. Anna wipes her eyes and nods. "Do you have a boyfriend back home, Maddie?" I ask. "Yeah, his name is Sterling," she says. She's doesn't sound like she wants to talk about it, so I don't push her.

"Tell us about Marlin now, Victoria," Anna says. "Call me ViVi. Victoria is a mouthful.""Tell us about Marlin now, ViVi." "Okay," I say, clearing my throat, "Marlin is my boyfriend. Well, now he's my fiancé. As you know, he gave me my necklace instead of an engagement ring."

"What were you doing when he proposed to you?" Maddie asks. "I was braiding my sisters' hair. And Marlin came to my house on his moped and walked into the room, waving like a princess. That's why I had to sit down in training. It reminded me of him." Maddie nods.

"Then he asked if he could talk to me in private. So we went into my room. And he said 'Okay. This is your last reaping, so I don't have to worry about you dying in the games anymore. I didn't want to ask you before today just in case something went wrong and you got reaped. What if you had died? All I'd be left with are memories of you. After today, you're safe and I don't have to worry about losing you.'

"Then he paused, but all of a sudden he looked up and asked me to marry him. I was stunned, so I asked him to give me some time to think about it. The chosen volunteer got attacked by a shark the night before the reaping, so I really wasn't safe like he thought I was. Man, I miss him so much." I'm crying by now. "When I got reaped, he started crying. I know that makes it sounds like he's a wimp, but to me it just means that he really cares about me. That's why I got so much attention at the reaping.

"During the goodbyes, he didn't come in at first, and I was so worried that he wasn't coming to visit me. I think he was afraid of getting too attached to and then having to watch me die. But I'm not planning on dying. He came in really late, only after I told somebody to go and tell him that if he didn't visit me and I came home after I won that I'd dump him. Then he proposed officially and he gave me the necklace. I told him to plan a July wedding." I hide head in my knees so they can't see the tears rolling down my cheeks. Anna pats me on the back.

"Talk about motivation to win. If it makes you feel any better, I promise I won't kill you," Maddie says. "Me, too," Anna quips. "Thanks. Can I call you Maddie?" I ask. "Sure you can, ViVi!" she replies. We get back on the elevator again. I get off first, of course. I walk to my room to change into pajamas and go to sleep.

**R&R, please?**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games. If I did, would Finnick have died? I don't think so, Suzanna Collins.**

The next day I arrive at the training center early, and I carry a bottle of nail polish that I took from the prep team's supply closet. When I'm done painting my nails silver, I throw it away. It was almost empty anyway, and I'm sure they won't miss one tiny bottle of polish. I put my socks and boots back on after they dry. By that time, everyone is there. Atala dismisses us immediately, and I head over to the edible plant station.

After a few minutes, I shadow falls across me. "May I join you?" It's Maddie. "Sure. I thought you did knives?" "Well, that's the only weapon I'm good at, so I told Oliver that I was going to do survival skills too. It's just in case one of us is… incapacitated." Meaning, if one of us is killed. We learn the difference between nightlock and blueberries, and between nightshade and raspberries, but we also learn what kind of berries small prey animals like to eat, on Maddie's request. "That way we can set snares with good bait," she tells me. The trainer looks at us like we're crazy, probably thinking that we are because we're careers and we have the cornucopia, but the joke might be on him in a few days.

We go to the camouflage station, where we are taught how to paint a basic camouflage design on our entire body without ruining our clothes. The scary part, though, is that the girl from seven has just appeared. She had painted herself into a rock and Maddie and I didn't even notice. That worries me, because she could sneak up on us and slit all of our throats and we wouldn't even notice that she was following us. "Nice job, Jacqueline," the instructor says. I tell her that was amazing and we didn't even notice her. She beams. Praise from a Career on something she's good at, I guess.

There's no swimming pool to learn how to swim (which Maddie thinks is a giant mistake in terms of training), but I promise to teach her how to swim if there's water in the arena. We skip the edible bug station, because I'd probably throw up if I had to do that. I'd never eat a bug unless I was three seconds away from dying of hunger, and Maddie agrees. We make hammocks and try hand-to-hand combat (which neither of us is good at).

The lunch bell rings, and we go into the small cafeteria. We sit at the table with all of the other Careers. We still have ten minutes left after we eat, so Anna asks us all what our talent would be if we won. Alistair says he wants to be a writer, and Maddie says she would be a clothes designer. Oliver, trying to act tough as usual, says he wants to make weapons, and Anna wants to be a gymnast. River doesn't know what he wants to do. I want to be a singer.

After lunch, Maddie and I do the snare station. We learn a few simple snares. Then we do the knot tying station. I know a lot of knots, including some very complicated ones, because it's suicide to go out to sea on a boat without knowing some. Maddie tries over and over, but she just can't get the hang of it.

We try weight lifting, but I only weigh about 130 pounds, so I can barely lift the sixty pound one. I do manage to get it off the ground eventually, though. We learn how to make a fire; we do the ropes course (which we both excel at, despite the overwhelming nausea that we got after scurrying around upside down). We make and fire a station, and then she asks if we can try the fishing station for the last station of the day. I go with her, but only for the fun of it.

Just as she put me to shame at the knife throwing station yesterday, I put her to shame here. They have a small pool-size pond filled with mechanical fish, programmed to act like real fish. By the time she strings and baits her hook, I already have four fish lying on the floor beside me. She catches a four inch fish, but that's it. "I think we'll leave the fishing in the arena to you!" she jokes. "Well, I am from the fishing district, after all," I say.

I go upstairs when training is over. Finnick, Mags, River, and I eat dinner together. After I shower, I lay down in bed. I hope that I don't have any dreams. Today was fun. Obviously, Maddie's going to die, but if she wasn't I think she'd make a great friend. I fall asleep almost immediately. I don't get my wish, but at least I have a good dream. In, my dream, I'm a little girl again, and my mother is doing my hair. Ah, the times before Marlin was a victor, those were the good times. Before the time he had to go to the Capitol every few months to do something that he said I wouldn't understand. I make a mental note to ask Finnick about that in the morning.

**R&R, please!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games. I own a few grains of sand on the beaches of District 4. (JK, I don't even own that much.)**

The next morning, I eat breakfast in my room. I walk towards the elevator after I've changed. I'm surprised to see Finnick come out of the elevator, with puffy eyes and darks circles. His appearance makes me step back a little bit. "What happened to you?" I ask. "None of your business, princess," he says tiredly. "Why do you look like that?" I press. "Once again, princess, it's none of your business."

"Oh, Finnick, I've been meaning to ask you something. I know Marlin goes to the Capitol every few months. He says he has work to do, but I don't believe him. What does he do? I thought you might know," I say. Finnick gets an angry look on his face. "Not important until after you're the victor. Now, leave me alone and stop asking me questions. Curiosity can get you killed in the arena," he says angrily. Then he storms to his room.

I roll my eyes and get on the elevator. The only station I haven't done is axe throwing. First, though, I do the gauntlet twice. I get through unscathed both times. I walk over to the axe throwing station. I pick a small axe with a short wooden handle. When I throw it, it sinks into the dummy up to the handle, right in the center of the target. I smile.

I think I've found my weapon. Of course, it could be a lucky throw. I do it thirty more times, and each one is the same as the first. Yep, this is MY weapon. It feels like throwing a cross between a trident and a knife. And it doubles. You can throw it like a spear, or swing it like a sword.

All through lunch, I don't join n the chitchat of the other members of the pack. I try to decide what to do in my private session. By the time that River is called, I know what I'm going to do. I enter the gym when they call my name. "Welcome, Ms. Marino. You have five minutes to impress us with your skills. Please begin," says a gamemaker in a special purple robe. It's the head gamemaker.

I pick three spears off the rack. The wrestling mat is hanging on the wall, so I use that as a target. I throw the spears quickly, and they make a small diagonal line ( / ). I smile, because my idea might actually impress them. I take four tridents and throw them. They make two separate horizontal lines ( _ _ ). Next I throw five knives, and they land just like spears did ( / ). The only things left for me to throw are axes. I grab four and throw them quickly, because I'm pretty sure I'm running out of time. They make two vertical lines ( l l ). I step back so the gamemakers can see what I've done. All together, they form one giant 11. They dismiss me, and I bow and thank them.

After I get upstairs, Finnick immediately asks me what I did in the session. I'm about to answer him when I remember how rude he was to me this morning. "It's none of your business, princess," I say, smirking. He rolls his eyes. After eating a big dinner, we settle down on the couch to watch Caesar Flickerman announce the scores on television. The screen flickers on and Caesar appears. He talks about how important training scores are, and then he grabs his list that he reads off of. "Let's get started, shall we?" he asks.

Pictures of Maddie and Alistair appear on the screen on either side of him. "For lovely Ms. Madeline Emeralds of District 1, a score of ten!" A ten rotates slowly around the picture of Maddie. "Alistair Gleam, also from District 1, with a score of nine!" A nine revolves around Alistair's face. I smile, because Maddie got a great score, but I can almost hear Alistair groaning from here. Usually Career boys get higher scores than Career girls.

"Moving on to District 2 now." Pictures of Anna and Oliver pop up. "For Anna Sevine, a score of nine! And for Oliver Quarry, also from District 2, a score of eleven!" I roll my eyes and drag my hand down my face. He only got that because he looks big and strong, I bet. The girl from Three, named Caroline, manages to pull an eight.

"Now, District 4, the most talked about District this year, is next." I hope Oliver hates that Caesar said that. I smile and silently thank Caesar for saying that. "Ms. Victoria Rose Marino, who is engaged to a previous victor, I might add, has a score of… eleven!" I shriek. River knuckle bumps me. "And River Trinana, also from District 4, has a score of ten!" I high-five River. He grins and pumps his fist into the air.

I don't pay much attention to the rest of the scores, which are mostly average, at about a three or a four. But I do notice that the girl who painted herself into a rock, Jacqueline, gets a seven. The girls from Nine and Ten both get sevens. Their names are Sarah and Katherine, respectively. I remember overhearing them talk about an alliance at the hammock-making station.

Caesar reminds us to tune in and watch tomorrow's interview (Yeah, right. Like anyone in the entire country, not counting the Capitol, was given an option of whether they wanted to watch the interviews or not). The TV shuts off. Finnick, Leona, and Mags start clapping. "What are the pack's odds, Finnick?" River asks. "Let me check," Finnick says, digging in his pocket. Finally he pulls out a slightly crumpled piece of paper. He must have gotten it wherever the mentors go when their tributes are in training and in the arena. "Um, District 1… the girl has 5-1 odds. The boy has 7-1 odds," he says, dragging his finger down the list. "The girl from District 2 has 6-1 odds. The boy has 3-1 odds." I roll my eyes. I'm sure Oliver is quite good at swinging his little mace around, but he probably got such good odds because he's big and strong-looking.

He smoothes out a few wrinkles in the page. "River, you have 4-1 odds. ViVi, you have 3-1 odds." Yes! I'm tied with Oliver! Now we're going to have to fight to be pack leader, since we're tied with almost everything. We're both eighteen, we both got elevens in training, and we both have 3-1 odds. And I know I can win the leadership But I can't kill him right in the beginning. Anna would probably desert if I did.

I lay down on my bed after my shower. I hear Finnick yelling reminders to River and I that private sessions with mentors and stylists for the interview tomorrow. I fall asleep quickly. During the night, I dream Marlin and I are on a boat, getting really bad sunburns. When we get back to shore, everyone on my prep team except Liza has a heart attack.

**R&R, Please!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: Can you keep a secret? Are you sure? You're abosuletly positive? OK, I'll tell you, but don't go spreading this around. It's very personal. Okay, here it is: I don't the Hunger Games. (Crowd: GASP!)**

I am woken up by freezing cold water being poured on my head. "OH MY GOD, FINNICK! WHY DID YOU JUST POUR WATER ON MY HEAD?!" I scream at the top of my lungs. "It's time to get up. You have Leona first, thank god," says Finnick simply, trying not to laugh at the expression on my face. He walks out, whistling as he shoves his hands in his pockets. I sit up and blow a strand of wet hair out of my face as I order breakfast. While I wait for the food to arrive, I take a short shower and dry my hair.

The avox carrying the food comes into my room and sets the tray down on my bed. I thank her and she walks out. I wonder how weird it must feel to not have a tongue. Twenty minutes later, Leona has my poor feet in a pair of her heels. If I haven't mentioned them before, they're about a foot tall. I complain, saying that my shoes won't be anywhere near this tall, but she just keeps talking as if she can't even hear me.

She has me walk around in them for an hour and a half. By the time she says I can walk in high heels well enough, I'm almost ready to just curl up on the floor and cry. She tells me that my smile is gone, thank god. She has me work on where to keep my hands during my interview. As if the fate of my entire life rested on my hands being place in my lap. Finally the session ends, and it's time for lunch.

I run into Finnick in the hallway. He moves to get past me, but I block his path. I take a step forward and punch him in the stomach. He doubles over and groans. "What was that for, ViVi? And how in Panem can you punch that hard!?" he say after catching his breath. "I'm just awesome like that, I guess. And it's your job to make sure I stay safe until I get back home. So why in Panem did you let Leona torture me like that? She had me in those awful heels of hers for almost two hours!" I snap back angrily. He laughs. "There's some blister cream in the stylist supply closet," he says, walking off.

I grab some walk to the dining room. While I wait for River to show up for lunch, I rub the cream on my heels. It smells horrible, like a bunch of fish left in the sun for a week. Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration. Let's make it six and a half days. "Gross, what is that smell? It smells like a bunch of fish left in the sun for six and a half days!" River says, wrinkling his nose. I grin. My second guess was on the dot. "Leona's made me wear her shoes for two hours," I say, holding up the tube of cream. "They gave me blisters." He grimaces, imagining how painful wearing those heels is.

"Don't worry, ViVi, all I did with Finnick was come up with an angle and answer some possible interview questions,' he tells me. 'I'm going to be savage and bloodthirsty!" he says with mock enthusiasm. We eat lunch, then I try to find Finnick so we can start working. I find him in my bedroom, playing with the buttons in my shower. "Wow, Finnick, you are really immature for a twenty year old! What the hack are you doing?" I ask.

"I totally forgot all about these awesome showers! The mentors just get regular old showers. This thing can get the salt water out of your hair in, like, thirty seconds!" he says excitedly. I roll my eyes and guide him by his arm to the chair. "I'm sure it can, but that's not what we're supposed to be doing right now." He gives me the pouty lip. I shake my head sternly. He crosses his arms. "Humph. That's not fair,' he says like a child. I roll my eyes and sit in the chair across from him, legs together and hands on my knees, like Leona told me to.

He stares at me for a few minutes. "Well, aren't you supposed to help me come up with an angle for my interview tonight?" I snap back. "You already have one, remember? You're in love," say Finnick, rolling he eyes like it's obvious. "But you said-"

"I said not to show love in front of the other Careers. This is the Capitol. They love anything having to do with love that involves tributes or victors. They make it, they sell it, they twist the facts of it around, and they destroy it utterly and completely. You get used to it after a while when you're a victor," he says, wrinkling his nose up. I want to ask him if that's why he was gone this morning, but he wouldn't answer me anyway. "Okay, how about I give you a sample question and you tell me how to answer it?" I ask. "Deal. Ask away."


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer:** **I don't own the Hunger Games. Wait, you know that. Why even ask? It just makes me feel depressed.**

Four hours later, I am trying on my interview dress, and it is beautiful. Liza says it's made of white satin, but it looks like liquid pearls to me. It's a sleeveless dress that goes down to my ankles. It's not puffy, but rather it hangs loosely around my body. Once again, there are no shoes. Liza ties a wide black ribbon around my waist to complete the look.

She makes me sit down on a swivel chair so she can do my hair. First she curls my hair into loose curls. Now it only goes two inches passed my shoulder. The she takes a small strand of hair from either side of my hair and pins it back using a jeweled clip. To complete the look, she puts a small crown with small pearls and opals the color of my eyes on it. She turns me around to face the mirror and I gasp. I look beautiful. She makes me stand up to see the entire getup. At once, I know that I want my wedding dress to look something like this.

My prep team adds the finishing touches, like putting on makeup. They put dab of nude concealer here, a swipe of red lipstick there. They brush some brush onto my cheeks, curl my eyelashes and pluck a few hairs from my eyebrows. Then they add the finishing touch, sparkly blue-grey eye shadow that compliments my eyes. I look beautiful. Too bad Marlin can't see me like this. Oh wait, I'm going to be on TV in less than an hour, so I guess he will.

I follow Liza blindly backstage, where I can hear. Caesar Flickerman being introduced. Usually he tells some jokes, the there's a commercial break, so I still have a little time to chat. Madeline and Anna walk over. "Whoa, we're all wearing the same dress!" says Anna. Wand we are. Maddie's is gold with a purple ribbon, and Anna's is silver with a black ribbon.

"What's your angle, ViVi?" Maddie asks. I roll my eyes. "In love. We thought hard all day to come up with that one. What's yours?" "Sweet and flirty!" complains Maddie. "Compassionate," says Anna. "They call us Careers, and then they give us angles that only wok on twelve year olds. "All tributes, please line up in order of district and gender, with females first. District 1 female to the stage, please," orders a voice from the loudspeaker.

Maddie wiggles her fingers as she waves goodbye. I give her two thumbs up and she smiles. Her interview is interesting, but there are twenty-three more and the audience gets restless after about ten. I get in line. Though I'm sure everyone will pay attention to mine. River is still talking to Oliver, so the girl from District 5 is behind me. I look around to see if Liza is still there.

I glance at the girl from Five's dress. It's a short, hot pink dress covered in sequins. "I like your dress," I tell her. She rolls her eyes. "Whatever. I guess yours isn't too bad," she says snootily. I turn back around, taken about by her rudeness. About half an hour goes by, and they finally call my name.

I hurry to the stage, eager to get out of this awful boredom. Even though I'm not on stage yet, I can hear Caesar announcing me to the audience. "And now, ladies and gentlemen, perhaps the most waited for interview. You may know her as the lady in love, please welcome Victoria Rose Marino!" I walk out onto the stage, waving and smiling. The crowd goes wild. When I sit, the timer goes on, and the volume of the audience goes off completely. They are all waiting for Caesar to ask me the first question.

To their disappointment, the first question Caesar asks me is not Marlin-related. "Do you have shoes on, Victoria Rose?" "No, sir. I didn't wear shoes during the parade, either. And please, call me ViVi. Victoria Rose is a mouthful," I say. I remember Leona's drills from this morning, and I immediately put my legs together and my hands on my knees.

"So, you seem pretty confident. You have good odds, and you got a great training score, at eleven, you are tied for the highest scoring tribute. Are you positive you can win?" "I'm not being arrogant or anything, but with motivation like mine, how can you not win?" He doesn't know, so he launches on to the next question. "How long have you dated Marlin?" he asks. "Well, we went on our first date right before his victory tour, but we had been friends since I was eight."

"Interesting. So what happened on that date?" I pull up the memory in my head quickly. "Everything had changed after he won. We were taking a walk on the beach, and he slipped his hand into mine. I was a little startled, but I have had a crush on him since I met him, so I didn't object. We watched the sunset, and he told me that he hadn't realized that he loved me until the girl from District 2 almost killed him during his games when the career alliance split up. He said that the only thought that kept him from giving up and dying in the arena was me. And we do that now, too. Up until the reaping, we would still have picnics on the beach at least once a month," I say, my voice catching in my throat. I thought it would be fun to talk about Marlin and I, but I feel like curling up and sobbing.

"What ran through your mind when he proposed to you?" he asks hurriedly. "I was shocked. I felt really lucky, though. Anyone who marries someone as amazing as him is an incredibly lucky person." "So what do you plan to do if you win?" he asks. I choose to ignore the fact that he said IF I win. "When I win, I'm obviously going to marry Marlin, and I'll have my victor's hobby, singing. I'll be a mentor, of course, and you can't forget the victory tour."

"And in the long run?" "I want at least five children, and I already have a list of names." "What kind of names?" Caesar asks. I glance up at the timer. Thirty seconds. "Well, I like Anna and Madeline. If we're doing traditional District 4 names, I like River, Riviera, Azula, Kai, and Dylan."

The buzzer rings. Caesar and I stand. He takes my hand, raises it high, and says, "Ladies and gentlemen, let's give us the best of luck on her engagement. A round of applause for the lovely Victoria Rose Marino, everybody!" I try to smile. I walk off the stage and head to the elevator, ducking my head so no one can see the tears rolling down my cheeks, tears for those baby names that might never be used.


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games. Sigh.**

I am the only one who will ever this launch room. After I win, it will serve as a monument to my victory. Liza helps me into my insolated jacket. It's designed to block out heat and moisture, not the cold, she tells me. Good. I can handle heat and sweat. After all, I do live in District 4. Anyone who can't handle heat and sweat in 4 apparently hasn't been there for long. I just can't stand the cold, though. It feels so weird and unnatural to me.

Water-proof boots are tightly laced up to my knees. The pants are made of tight fitting (like they hug the skin VERY tightly) water proof material, which keeps cool in and heat out. The shirt is made of the same material, but it's not as tightly. I look like a ninja from one of the stories that my mother used to read to me when I look in the mirror. The clothing suggests the arena will be hot and wet. It's either a swamp of a jungle. I'm hoping a swamp, so there will be water to swim in.

Liza clips my necklace on around my neck, because a peacekeeper had taken away from me when I got on the hovercraft. I had tried to lunge at him to get it back, but other peacekeeper held me back. When they made me sit down, I had burst into tears. I got some pretty weird looks from the other tributes, including that extremely rude girl from Five.

We sit in the two chairs provided. Liza hands me a large cup of water. She tells me to drink it all, because I'll need it. By the end, I feel like I'm about to explode. Finnick walks into the room. "Liza, I think Theon needs your help." She nods. She walks over to me and hugs me. "Thank you for making me beautiful. I look forward to you doing it again," I say. She nods and runs out of the room. I don't know who Theon is, but I couldn't really care less at the moment.

Finnick takes Liza's chair. "So, princess, let's talk about the arena. In there, the gamemakers will twist your mind until there is nothing but fear left. It's like tracker jacker venom. Ever been stung been one?" He doesn't even wait for my answer. "Good. I hope you never do. I got stung by one in my games. It was horrible." He shivers at the memory. "Anyway, what I was saying is that it's happened before that a tribute has gone insane."

He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. I know he's thinking about Annie. Has she really caught his eye? If so, I hope he lets her down easily. I know he never stays with anyone for long, especially in the Capitol. I want to ask, but it seems rude, so I don't. "Here. Drink it." He hands me another cup of water. I groan. What, do they want to make me have to go to the bathroom the second I get in the arena?

"When will I see Marlin again?" I ask. "Depends on how long your games are. I promise I'll try to get him to come to the Capitol if you win." "Thanks. And you mean when I win, right?" "Remember that every single tribute has a chance, even if it's miniscule. And arrogance like yours is a big problem in the arena." "It's not arrogance, it's confidence. And it's all an act. If I act confident, the Capitol will see the act, not the real me. The real me feels crappy."

"_Twenty seconds,_" a cool female voice emanating from the tube in the corner says. I walk over to the tube, and Finnick follows. "Okay. Try to make the games as short as you can. Let your conscience slip away. Become brutal. Kill as many as you can in the bloodbath. You're going to have nightmares anyway once you get out." I gulp. Nightmares? Marlin has never said anything about nightmares about the before.

He plants a fatherly kiss on my forehead. "See you in a week or two, mentor dearest," I say, smirking, as I step inside the tube. The doors slides closed. I look up and see darkness. I breathe what will be my last breath of safe air until second place is decided. I am determined that it will not be filled by my broken body, waiting to be sent home in a clean white coffin. The tube starts to rise and I put my hands on the sides to steady myself. I look up again, and see trees this time.

We rise into a swamp. I glance at the two tributes next to me. Caroline from three is on my right, and the snobby girl from five is to my left. I'll have no problem sinking my axe into HER chest. I glance at the cornucopia. There are narrow paths curling through the swamp, all leading to the big pile of weapons. No food. I smirk. Oh, I will laugh about this later. I set my sights on a set of throwing axes. I look down. I can see the bottom. The water is about a foot and a half deep.

I remember that in first grade, we were taught that if the water was deep enough, swim. It takes too long to trudge through knee deep water. I glance at River, who's about five or six pedestals away from me. He's already in diving position. The water must be deeper by him. He glances at me and gives me a look and a small jerk of his head. I know what it means, too. Together, us two will dominate this arena.

The gong sounds and River dives straight into the water. I hop off my pedestal and begin swimming. I get to the cornucopia second, behind River. He already has a sword in hand, waiting for others to get to the island. I grab the axes, then I throw a belt of knives to Maddie, who's a few yards away, and bow and a sheath of arrows to Anna. River throws two spears to Alistair. Oliver trudges up onto the bank of the tiny island that the cornucopia sits on and grabs a mace. "Only weapons," I tell him. He rolls his eyes and I smirk.

I set my sights on the girls from five, who's eyes a few axes in the pile. Those are mine, I think as I go to intercept her. I focus on only her and send my axe flying through the air. It lands with a crunch in her chest. She look down at her chest, and then up at me. She gives me a look of pure loathing, and then her eyes roll into the back of her head. She falls to the ground. I feel sick. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Anna's arrow whizz past me. Judging from the scream, it found its mark. Oliver makes a big deal out of turning the poor kid he's towering over into mush with a giant mace.

I focus on the girl from Eleven, and the axe embeds itself into her skull. She falls immediately. I have vomit in my mouth, but if this is what it takes to get home, I'd do it a hundred more times. I sense a presence behind me, and turn around just as the boy from Eight sink his two-inch blade into my shoulder. I cry out as my axe swings through the air on instinct. He falls to the ground in two pieces. I fall to the ground , retching, as I pull the knife out of my shoulder.

When the bloodbath is over, I stand up. "I got three. The girls from five and eleven, and the boy from eight," I announce. Oliver got three, Maddie and River got two each, and Anna and Alistrair got one a piece. Twelve cannons boom. Half the field is gone in less than an hour.

A silver parachute floats down. River grabs it and opens it. He pulls out four drawstring bags and a slip of paper. "For food," the note reads. It's signed, too. From Finnick Odair. God, he's quick. Since there's no food, I decide that since Maddie and I did survival stations, we will each take someone with us into the forest to hunt for food while two others guard.

"Who made you pack leader?" Oliver interjects angrily. I lower my voice a little. "I did. Does anyone besides Oliver object?" I say sweetly. Nobody does, and I smirk at him. He scowls. "Okay then, Anna and Oliver will guard, and I'll take River with me and Maddie takes Alistair. Don't at anything until we get back. We can double check each other to make sure nothing is poisonous."

River and I fill our two bags in thirty minutes. When we get back to camp, the other four are sitting around a fire with a rabbit roasting on spit. We double check the berries, then pass the bag around. Anna explains that she shot them with her bow when they lazily hopped passed her. Then she says that they found six water bottles at the bottom, with some iodine, and she hands us our bottles.

"All right, I'll guard tonight. Anyone want to help?" I say. Maddie immediately says yes. We finish eating. Anna grabs her bow and an extra sheath of arrows from the pile and waves goodbye to Maddie and I. I kind of feel bad making her the only girl to go hunting, but I'm secretly afraid that Oliver and Alistair might gang up on River and kill him, and I know Anna will stop them from killing them. They walk down the narrow path, single file, out to spill the blood of others.


	14. Chapter 14

**I'm not on vacation anymore. Now that I'm in school (It starts Tuesday), updates will probably be once week. Oh, the summer flew by way too quick.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games, peoples.**

I treat the knife wound on my shoulder with some medicine that i just got from a sponsor. After about ten minutes, it becomes nothing more than a scratch. THis Capitol stuff is like magic.

Maddie and I work out a schedule for guarding. I take seven hours while she sleeps, then we switch. We sit back across the cornucopia and snack on berries as we listen to the anthem and watch the faces of the fallen.

First up is the tiny blonde boy from District 3, named Emil. Then the rude girl that I killed with glee, whose name is Elasha, and her district partner. All the careers survived of course, and I guess Caroline did, too. The boy from six. Both from seven and eight. The boy from ten. Both from eleven and twelve. The anthem plays and the light fades to black.

Maddie sighs and lies down. Wishing me goodnight, she rolls over. All of a sudden she sits up straight. "Do you hear that dinging noise?" she asks. I look up and see a parachute with a bundle attached to it. She grabs it. When it lands on the ground, I can see that it's a sleeping bag.

"Yay!" she exclaims. She unrolls the sleeping bag and climbs into it. "Wake me up when your shift is over. We can swap places," she says. After a few minutes, I can hear her breathing slow.

When she's asleep, I go around to the other side of the cornucopia. Digging through the pile, I unearth a trident, two belts of knives, and two pairs of throwing axes. I can almost hear Finnick groan as I toss aside the traditional District 4 weapon that I told him I was going to use during the games for the axes, which are usually only used by District 7 tributes.

I arm myself with three of the knives from one belt and slide the axes into the weapons holders on my pack. I grab the other belt of knives and put them beside Maddie as I settle back down. I get as comfortable as I can and try to occupy my mind by planning my dream wedding to stay alert.

My shift flies quickly, and before I know it, I'm getting to my feet so I can wake Maddie up. I'm about to tap a shoulder when I hear a cannon. BOOM. She jolts awake. "What's happened?" she screeches. I calm her down, telling her that it was a cannon. Her shoulders sag in relief as we trade places. I slide into the sleeping bag and fall asleep almost immediately.

While I'm sleeping, I have the most vivid dream that I can ever remember having, about my first kiss. I was fifteen years old, and it was the night before the 59th Hunger Games. Marlin had only won a year before, so we hadn't been dating for long. We were having a picnic on the beach, in the sunset. "So tomorrow is the reaping. I just want to tell you that I love you, and I hope that you won't get picked," Marlin had said.

I had been kind of taken off-guard, because he had never told me that he loved me directly before. I thanked him. I sat up and looked out into the ocean, and so did he. "The sunset is beautiful, but not as beautiful as your eyes," he said. I blushed. His first sappy comment!

All of a sudden he leaned over and kissed me, really quick. He leaned back, cleared his throat, and started to say how late it was when I leaned over and kissed him back. He smiled and helped me pack up the blanket and the basket. Then he walked me back to my house. On my doorstep, he kissed me again, longer this time. The he opened the door for me, hugged me, and walked away.

It should be a good dream, but I wake up gasping and screaming bloody murder. It almost gives Maddie a heart attack, and I can tell because I see her jump from a sitting position to her feet, weapons at the ready. She calms me down enough for me to let her pour some cool water onto the sleeve of my jacket and makes me wipe my face with it.

I'm sweating badly, and tears are pouring freely down my face. Maddie helps me out of my jacket. She asks me what's wrong and I try to tell her, but every time I try all that comes out is a whimper.

When I'm back to normal, I take in my surroundings. It's already about eleven in the morning, so I tell Maddie that I'm going to check River's traps. When I reach them, I find that all three have a fat rabbit entangled in the rope. I fill my bag up with berries that I know are edible, thanks to training, then I untangle the rabbits.

My ears pick up a slight splashing noise from behind me, and I turn around to find a knife hurling towards my face. I duck instinctively, and the knife lodges into the tree where my head had been mere seconds before. I throw my axe. A few seconds later, hear the sickening crunch that tells me the axe has found its target.

The boy from nine pulls the axe out of his thigh and falls to the ground. I lean over him. His blonde hair is matted to his face from the humidity of the swamp. Blood is staining the bottom of his jacket and his pants crimson. I pull the axe out of his leg. He grabs my ankle and I shriek as I try to shake him off.

"Please… have mercy," he begs desperately. Is he asking me to kill him or to let him go? Well, he'll die anyway from that wound, so I might as well kill him now. It would be doing him a favor. "Don't worry, I will," I say. I drive my axe downwards, and his cannon booms almost immediately.

I wipe the blood off the blade with some leaves as I head back to camp. "ViVi, is that you?" Maddie asks. "Yeah, it's me. The boy from nine snuck up on me and tried to knife me, so I killed him. I got the rabbits, too. The others should be getting back soon, so let's cook these before they go bad. Man, I hope that cannon last night wasn't one of theirs," I say. She looks at me weirdly. "Why would it be for one of them? They're Careers!" she says haughtily. She blows on the fire and gets the spear we used as a spoke to cook the rabbits on last night ready while I skin them.

Pretty soon, we're taking them off the fire. They're cooked perfectly. A boy's scream pierces the silence of the swamp, and Maddie jumps to her feet. "That sounds like Alistair," she says worriedly, biting her bottom lip. "Why would it be for him? He's a career," I say haughtily, mirroring her words. She smiles. "You're right, I'm probably just paranoid," she says.

Around noon, I spot Anna running down one of the paths straight towards us. I don't see any of the boys. I wonder where they are. Anna comes to a stop and catches her breath. Then she delivers some really bad news. "Alistair… he… he got attacked by an alligator mutt. He lost his leg, and Oliver and River are carrying him back. He's going to die pretty soon."


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games.**

River and Oliver lay him down in front of a kneeling Maddie. Maddie screams and starts trying to bandage Alistair's leg with Oliver's jacket, which the other boys were using to carry Alistair. Her hands are bloody almost instantly. I shake my head when Maddie looks at me desperately. I know he's never going to live no matter what I do, so why even try. Plus, the sight of the stump where his leg used to be and his shredded thigh makes me want to throw up last night's dinner of berries and rabbits.

Maddie turns her attention back to him as she bursts into tears. He raises his hand to her face slowly. "Don't cry for me, Maddie. I'll see you when you come home. Please don't cry over me," he whispers weakly. She grabs his hand before it can drop. His cannon booms.

Maddie doesn't listen to his final wish. She screams and cries and shakes him like she's trying to wake him up from his eternal sleep. A hovercraft appears to take Alistair's body, but it has to wait for River and Oliver to drag Maddie away from the body. She screams and kicks and tries to bite them.

After the body is gone, Maddie curls into a ball, leaning against the cornucopia, and starts to sob. Anna and I go hunting and refill all of the berry bags. Five rabbits come with us to camp, arrows through their heads. When we come back, she's still sobbing. "Who'd y'all kill this morning?" I ask Anna as we skin and clean the rabbits. "The girl from six. Then Alistair died, that means only eight people left, and it's only the second day. Who's left again?" she asks, pulling off the skin of the last rabbit and chucking it into the swamp.

"Maddie, you and Oliver, Caroline from 3, River and I, and the girls from nine and ten. I think their names are Sarah and Katherine,' I answer after thinking for a few seconds. She nods, biting her bottom lip. I can tell she still worried about her and Oliver being the final two. But I'm not going to let that happen, no on my watch. Gradually, Maddie stops crying.

I glance around to see what the others are doing as the rabbits cook. Oliver and River are talking in hushed voices, probably comparing weapons or something like that. Maddie is staring into space, clutching one of the spears that Alistair used. "All right, let's eat,' I say.

While we're eating, a parachute floats down and lands right in front of me. I hear a sloshing noise from within, so I twist the wide cap off carefully. Inside is water, lapping against the sides gently. There's a note attached to the inside of the lid. "_From home_," it reads. It's signed_ To Princess Victoria Rose, from Finnick Odair, your mentor dearest._ I hold it up to my nose and take a sniff. My eyes water as tears form.

I give it to Maddie to pass to River. She smells it, and wrinkles her nose as she passes it to River. He sticks his nose in, and comes out sniffling. He screws the lid on and throws it into the cornucopia's pile.

"What is that? It smells disgusting," she asks me. "It's salt water from District 4. And it doesn't smell disgusting, it smells like home," I say, offended. "It smells like Marlin," I add, under my breath. We finish eating in silence.

I open my mouth to say that I'm hunting tonight when Maddie cuts across me. "I'm hunting tonight. I need closure," she says stonily. I nod. I set Oliver and River up to guard, then Maddie, Anna, and I head out down one of the narrow paths. I secretly hope that we don't find anyone. At least if we do, I can make Maddie or Anna kill them. My conscience is already plagued enough.


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own the Hunger Games.**

I get my wish, thank goodness. We don't find anyone. While we walk, we snack on berries. We end up eating two whole bags. Anna shoots a few rabbits, so we put those in one bag. When I see a bush with edible berries, I put a few handfuls in the empty bag. While we walk around looking for other tributes, we talk about girl stuff, like boys and boyfriends (or fiancé, in my case).

"Do you know Finnick Odair, ViVi?" Maddie asks. "Yeah, he's my mentor," I reply dully. "OMG, he is soooo hot for an old guy," she says excitedly. I laugh, because I'm sure Finnick just loves being called an old guy. "He's only like twenty years old, Maddie," Anna says, defending him. "Well, he doesn't appeal to me all," I say, wrinkling my nose.

"Why not?" Maddie asks. "Well, I already have a boyfriend, thank you very much. Second, he is cocky to no end. And he's too hard to get. Or maybe it's just that he's too easy to lose," I say. Maddie and Anna nod.

To tell the truth, and I'm not kidding about this, while everybody else in District 4 was fawning over the newly crowned victor Finnick Odair, eleven year old Marlin and I were at the back of the crowd, trying to suppress our giggles. Even from twenty feet away, we could see the hickey on his fourteen year old neck. Anna pulls me away from memory lane by asking me if I have any siblings.

"Yeah I had a sister named Marina. I don't know what my parents were thinking when they named her Marina Marino. She died six years ago at the age of fifteen when she was bludgeoned to death by the girl from District 7, Laurel. She was Finnick's district partner,' I say. I don't mention that every time I look at Finnick I'm reminded of her brutal death.

"Then I have a twelve year old sister named Azula, and seven year old twin sisters. Their names are Coral and Pearl," I say. 'I have a one year old sister named Clove, and eight year old brother named Aeneas, and an eleven year old sister named Adair," Anna says.

"I have four sisters. Their names are Opal, Jade, Aquamarine, and Glimmer. And I have a brother named Jasper," Madeline says. "If you could have anything in the world right now, besides going home or winning, what would it be? I know I would have a letter from my family," Anna tells us.

"I want a full night's sleep on a super-soft bed," Maddie says. I know I'd want to have Marlin here with me immediately. On the other hand, I wouldn't, because then I'd have to kill him to go home to the _real_ Marlin. Maddie and Anna look at me expectantly, waiting for my answer. "I want breakfast of something other than berries and rabbits," I say finally. We sit down on a wide part in the path as the anthem plays. We see Alistair, the girl from six, and the boy from nine.

I hear a dinging noise and look up to see a parachute with a basket attached to it. I open it to find a lot of food and a note. "_Enjoy your wish, princess. From Finnick Odair, your mentor dearest_," the note reads. I roll my eyes, but grin anyway.

Even though it's not really my wish, I thank the sky anyway. Hopefully they hear me, because I have great sponsors. I split up the food evenly on the little plates they sent us. There are three different small loaves of bread in the basket. One is shimmery, one is rock-hard to the touch, and one is green.

I grin and grab the green one. Maddie grabs the shimmering one, and Anna grabs the hard one. Maddie takes a bite out of here, and Anna does, too. I hold mine to my mouth, inhaling its salty aroma. My loaf is still warm, which is just how I like it. "Why's yours green?" Maddie asks with her mouth full. "It's from the seaweed and the salt content. It's a symbol of how dependent District 4 is on the ocean. Part of everything we make, even the bread, comes from the ocean. Why's yours sparkly?" I ask. She shrugs.

There's milk in the basket, too. I love milk, but we rarely have it back home. Only on parcel day, if someone from District 4 has one the games that year. The last thing in the basket is sugared berries. They're delicious, even though they're still berries. I know what my new favorite food is. We clean our hands with water from our bottles, and then we fill them up again and put the right amount of iodine in them.

As we're walking, I hear a hissing noise from where the path is covered by shallow water. I throw out my arms to stop Anna and Maddie from stepping on the giant alligator that I thought was a log. "That's the same alligator that killed Alistair!" Anna says.

Maddie huffs and barges past me. "Now you get what you deserve, you freakin' mutt!" she hisses. She kneels down and raises her knife, only to bring it down on the mutt's head a few seconds later. The blood spurts all over her, but she keeps stabbing it until Anna and I pull her away from it.

She stands up and wipes her bloody hands on her jacket, adding to the dried blood that was already there, from Alistair's hands. She brushes her hair out of her face. "Well, that was fun. I never thought killing your district partner could be so fun. Don't you think that was fun, Anna Banana?" she says giddily. Anna glances at her, then at me. "Uh, so fun," she says unenthusiastically. I giggle. She starts walking. I can tell Anna and I are both thinking the same thing. Maddie has gone insane.


	17. Chapter 17

**I just saw Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters...**

**Disclaimer: Percy... he... Clarisse... Leven Rambin... Glimmer... Clarisse is better than Glimmer at weapons... her hair was brown... Luke... Kronos... my head... it's about to blow up... so different from the book...**

While we walk back to camp, I can't help but think that Maddie's gone off the deep end. I mean, she called that mutt Alistair. And the look in her eyes when she was stabbing that thing is unforgettable. With only eight left, she might be going crazy because Alistair isn't her. Maybe she thought he deserved to win more than she does. "So, Maddie, did you know Alistair back home?" Anna asks timidly.

"Yeah, I was so good with knives they moved me up to the seventeen year class. Alistair was right before me in line name-wise, so we were usually put together for hand-to-hand combat and mock battles. Last July he asked me out. The best six months of my life I used to tell him. Used to. Six months later, he won the male tribute trials. A month after that, I won the female trials.

'When I was released from the mock arena, a boy from the fifteen-year old class named Gloss Martinez told me that he caught Alistair sneaking upstairs in his house with his sixteen year old sister Cashmere during the female trials. I was so angry, because it turns out that he had been cheating on me the entire time. I dumped him the next time I saw him.

"Then I started going out with Zack. During the goodbyes, Cashmere came in. I forgave her when she told me that Alistair had asked her out in June. He had two girlfriends the entire time we were going out. I guess a little love for him was still in my heart when he died. But it doesn't matter now, because he didn't take me seriously, and now he's dead. Or is he?" she asks, grinning.

I glance sideways at Anna. Yep, she's definitely crazy. "Well, let's go back to base camp. We can go rabbit hunting. Tori and I aren't bad archers, and they're a lot easier to take down prey with than knives or axes," Maddie says brightly. Since when has she called me Tori?

We finally reach camp. Oliver comes barreling towards us. "Please don't make me guard with him ever again. Please," he says, gasping for breath. I look over his shoulder. River smiles and waves good naturedly. I trudge through the humid air. Even though I'm used to humidity from back home, this air is killing me. It's like trying to breathe in water, or maybe wood smoke.

Anna crawls into the sleeping bag. "Wake me up when we go tribute hunting," she yawns. "Me too," I say, yawning. I dream that Marlin is one the beach with some girl that looks like me from behind. He's wearing a tuxedo, so he must be getting married. The girl must smile, because he smiles back and kisses her cheek.

"I love you, Azula," he says. What? When the woman turns around, I see it is Azula, except she has black hair. Usually her hair is blonde. "I love you too, Marlin," she says, smirking. Then she looks straight at me and says, "Please die, ViVi. I could have all of this and more. You wouldn't want to hold back on your little sister, would you?" She laughs evilly.

"NO! NO! MARRY ANYONE YOU WANT, BUT NOT HER! NOT HER, PLEASE! PLEASE, ANYONE BUT HER!" I scream. Someone shakes me. "Get up! Stop screaming your lungs out!" Oliver yells, kneeling beside me.

"Get away from me," I growl. He rolls his eyes, but he backs up. "What time is it?" I ask River groggily. "About nine-thirty. We're about to eat. Who's guarding tonight? I'll do it," he says. I face a dilemma. He can guard, of course.

But if I go with Maddie and Anna again, Oliver will probably try to kill River. I could go with Anna and Oliver, but then Maddie would be River, and who knows what she'll do? And I could hunt with Maddie and Oliver, but both are unpredictable, and I doubt I can fend off both of them at once. "Okay, you can guard alone. I'll take the rest hunting," I say. He punches the air with glee.

We eat berries and rabbits again. There are no faces in the sky tonight. Oliver clips the ring on the end of mace to a strap on his back. We set out. Maddie walks in front of me, because I don't trust her to walk behind me anymore. Anna walks behind me, because she's the only one in the group I can trust to watch my back. Oliver brings up the rear.

After about five hours of walking down the path with our flashlight beams (another sponsor gift that was received today, while I was sleeping) in front of us, Maddie stops abruptly and turns around. I see her grin evilly and point up ahead to a nearby tree. She turns back around and walks a little closer to the tree she pointed at. "Alistair, you silly boy, we know it's you. Stop trying to scare us, because it's not working," she says, the madness evident in the way she talks, stopping and starting again randomly. She must be really messed up. Even Annie doesn't do that, and she's certifiably insane now.

I hear Oliver snort from behind me. I push past Maddie and hold out my flashlight. And Caroline from District 3, who is hanging upside down from a snare, raises her hand to shield her eyes from the beam of my flashlight.


	18. Chapter 18

**Thanks to SaphiraBrightScale for following and favoriting!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games.**

Caroline pleadingly begs me not to kill her. I can feel Oliver's eyes on me, waiting for me to prove that I'm really the Career I say I am. Maddie comes up beside me and snickers. "Awww, you guys, look at nerd girl, all caught up in her own snare. Trying to catch a career, were we, missy?" Maddie says. I see she's right. River didn't make this trap with the rope that we got from sponsors, so one of her sponsors must have sent her rope.

Maddie grins evilly. "I think we should set her free, you guys." Caroline nods vigorously. "Set her free, ViVi" Maddie says haughtily. "Don't give me orders, Maddie. I'm leader of the pack. If you want to set her free so bad, why don't you do it?" I say dismissively. She shrugs and walks over to the trap. "Oh, how you remind me of my sister Glimmer, with her blonde hair" Maddie says.

She whips a knife out of her belt to cut the rope. Oliver groans. All of a sudden, Maddie brings her knife across Caroline's throat. Her eyes roll back into her head and a cannon booms. "I set her free from a life full of pain and misery. I can't wait to be set free," Maddie says giddily.

I'm starting to get nervous around her. All of a sudden, Maddie turns on her heel. "You!" she says, stalking towards Anna. "You betrayed me! How dare you! I trusted you! I loved you! Well, now you get the betrayal you so deserve. I bet you didn't think you would be killed by your district partner. In fact, I bet you didn't think you'd be killed at all. Boy, were you wrong, Alistair Gleam!" Maddie screeches.

She pushes Anna up against a tree. "Oliver!" Anna screams. Oliver runs towards her and wrenches Maddie away from her, but I know it's too late. He pushes Maddie away just in time to catch Anna as she slides the ground. Meanwhile, I pin Maddie to the ground her sleeves and the legs of her pants with knives. She doesn't struggle, she just stays there muttering and giggling.

"Anna… Anna," Oliver rasps. Is he… crying? I jog over, but not too close. They need space. "Oliver…" Anna says, turning her head. "…I'm sorry for volunteering. Now you have to see me die." "Don't be sorry. I'm sorry for not telling you how I feel. The games are no place to love." He looks at me pointedly, and then he turns his attention to Anna's stomach.

"Pull it out, Oliver," she says weakly. He slides the handle-deep knife out her abdomen. There's very little blood. "I love you," he says softly. My heart almost breaks, seeing a big, strong career break down like this. "I love you too. See you soon," she says, taking her last breath. Her cannon sounds. Oliver leans back and gives a positively wolf-like howl.

"The doggies are coming. They heard the confetti popper!" Maddie says. Oliver leans over Anna's body, silent tears rolling down his cheeks. I walk over, pat him on the back, and help him get to his feet. When he's up, he turns towards Maddie. "She's insane. She needs to go," he says finally. I purse my lips and nod. I don't want to kill her, even if she really is crazy.

I pull up the knives and she clambers to her feet. She walks over to Oliver and pokes his cheek. "Are you a walnut?" she asks him. "No, but YOU are a nutter. Anna's going to take you to the mental ward upstairs." He takes the knife she killed Anna with and stabs her in the stomach.

"You kill because you're afraid of dying, Oliver," she says, her sanity seemingly returning. "I wish you the best of luck on your marriage, Victoria Rose." She giggles. "You have a funny name, Victoria Rose. Tell me what your wedding was like." "I haven't had it yet, but I know I want a dress that looks like the one I wore for my tribute interview. And I want red roses and anemones, the flowers of love. And it'll be on the beach, at sunset." "That sounds positively delightful. I'm invited, right?" she asks. "Uh, sure. I'll save you a seat. You can come too, Oliver." He snorts and rolls his eyes. "I'll have to pick out a wedding-appropriate dress. I think I look good in purple and red. Oh, I'll have to go shopping for shoes and makeup, too," she babbles. Then her eyes flutter close and her cannon booms.

"Well, I think we've done enough hunting for one night. Let's go back," I say. We get back on the trail as the hovercraft picks both of their bodies up. After a few minutes I realize that they both had bags full of berries. Shoot. We walk in complete silence for almost an hour. "She loved you a lot, you know," I say, when I can't stand silence anymore.

"Uh huh. You should have heard her telling Lyme, her mentor, about how nice you were after you three talked about strategy on the roof. Except Lyme doesn't know that y'all weren't discussing strategy. I know you were talking about boys and other girly stuff, like nail polish and hairstyles," he says.

"Nail polish? Hairstyles? I don't think so, mister. We talked about weapons. And a little bit about boys, too," I say, offended. "You know what? I think I'll just leave now," he says. Before I can say a word, he disappears into the still dark swamp. I sigh and begin trudging back to camp alone.

On the way, I catch a glimpse of myself is the dawn-lit swamp water. I gasp and back up. My hair looks like a rat's nest, and I 'm covered in a layer of grime. I bet Marlin can't even look at me. I brush my hair through with my fingers and wipe the dirt off with my jacket sleeve. I hope this is over soon, because I can't stand being this dirty.


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games**

I tell River what happened. "Bound to happen eventually," he grunts. I grab a sheath of arrows and swing it over my shoulder. I grab a bow and nock an arrow as I walk out to hunt. Four hours later, I come back with an empty quiver and nine rabbits. River insists on skinning and cooking them, so I catch six hours of much-needed sleep. He wakes me up when he's finished and we both eat as much as we can hold.

Maddie, Anna, and Caroline shine in the sky. I can't help but wonder if Oliver's still mourning Anna's death. There's only five tributes left now. I'm so close to home, and yet I'm so far away. After we eat, I take guard so River can sleep. Five hours later, I wake up to the sound of screams. I must have dosed off.

River grabs his swords and I pick up my pair of throwing axes before tracking down the screams. There, caught in River's trap, is the girl from ten. River smiles "This is going to end earlier than I thought. Only two more to-" He is cut off by the arrow sprouting out of his stomach. He falls to the ground. I look up to where arrow came from and see a figure crouched in the tree. I dodge the arrow Sarah shoots at me, and then throw my axe at her. It hits her in the chest, and she falls ten feet to the ground. Her cannon sounds.

I turn my attention to the girl in the trap. I remember her name is Katherine. She looks at me tearfully, and then she closes her eyes, as if accepting her death. I make my fifth kill of the games, and then I rush over to River's side. He's already pulled the arrow. "Do the rights," he says, undoing his fishhook charm and handing it to me. I hold it over his chest.

"River Trinana, may you find rest in the eternal You will live on in the hearts of those who love you. May your spirit dance on the white crests of the waves of the eternal sea with all those who have gone before you. Be at peace, be at peace, be at peace," I say dutifully. I do the same thing, holding the charm over his head this time, just like you're supposed to.

"You can win, Victoria, I know you can. Get home and take care of both of our families. Beat Oliver to the ground. Don't cry when I die. Focus on the task ahead." His eyes go out of focus. "Tell my brother Noah I love him," he says. His eyes glaze over completely, and his cannon booms.

I honor his wish. I don't cry. I don't scream. Instead, a single tear rolls down my cheek and lands on his forehead. I wipe it away with my sleeve. I stand up and retrieve my axe from Sarah's body. I'm ready to end this. It's a good thing I did the animal tracking station during station. Oliver is just an animal now.

I pick up a sheathed sword and the sleeping bags from the cornucopia. I clip the sword's scabbard to my belt as I walk back to the place where Oliver disappeared into the swamp.. Then I just follow the path of trampled bushes caused by his heavy, branch-breaking body.

I find a giant tree with a whole big enough to fit me in it, so I climb up and get comfortable. River shines in the sky tonight. I bite my lip as I force myself not to look away. I have the same dream again, the one where Marlin marries Azula, and I wake up at dawn screaming.

My breath rises in curls of steam. It's about thirty degrees outside. I know in an instant that the gamemakers are messing with us. Thank goodness I still have my jacket, unlike Oliver, but my hands are freezing.

A thunk outside my hollow makes me jump. I grab the parachute and unwrap it to find a pair of gloves. I put them on and grab the note that came with it. "_So the princess can stay toasty warm. From Finnick Odair, your mentor dearest." _I roll my eyes, but say thank you directly to where I know the camera is in the hollow. At least Finnick knows what he's doing.

I eat the rest of the rabbit that River cooked yesterday, and as many berries as I can hold. Even though I haven't been hungry, I can tell I've lost at least five pounds. As I go back to tracking him, I decide that I want his death to be quick and decisive, for Anna's sake. Plus, I don't want any more blood on my hands.

After tracking for almost half the day, I hear a crackling noise, followed by muffled cursing. I part the bushes slightly and see Oliver sitting around a fire, facing me. He'll see a knife or axe if I throw, and then I'll lose the advantage of the element of surprise. How am I supposed to sneak around him?

I glance up at the sky and find I can't see it. I realize that I'm in a grove of willow trees, and I get an idea. I climb the tree next to me until I'm about fifteen feet up. I inch myself along the branch. It takes me half an hour to get to the other side, the side he's facing away from.

After I climb down, I slide one foot into the icy water. I drag my feet along the bottom to stay silent. Just as I get near enough to stab him, I sneeze. How original, I think sarcastically. I can almost hear Finnick groan at my great timing. Oliver turns around and smiles sadistically. I draw my sword. He growls and draws a sword I didn't know he had.

Quick as lightning, he lashes out with it, and I barely manage to parry. We fight like this for about twenty minutes, making wounds but always missing vital parts. Finally he manages to disarm me. He drops his swords and pulls out a a knife with a long, narrow blade.

Then he manages to sink his knife hilt-deep into the front of my shoulder. I can feel the blade go through my shoulder bone and out the other side of my jacket as I scream in pain and agony. I yank out the blade and punch him in the face. He staggers backwards, clutching his broken nose.

He draws two daggers and launches them into the air, but my axe is already flying. All the blood drains from his face as the weapon embeds itself in his chest. "Anna…" he says before collapsing. I'm so overwhelmed with so many emotions at once. One knife leaves a cut from my lips to my ear, and the other makes a ridge in my nose as it cuts through my eyes slightly.

The last cannon of the games sounds. "Ladies and gentlemen, the victor of the 61st annual Hunger Games, District 4's very own Victoria Rose Marino!" Claudius Templesmith says. The applause plays live from the Capitol over the speakers they use to play the anthem.

I shake my head in disbelief. "Marlin…" I say desperately. I fall to the ground as the world goes black.


	20. Chapter 20

**So I saw this show on the CW channel, called Capture. It's kinda like the Hunger Games without blood, and with teams! i was so sad when one of my favorite teams got eliminated, though. Oh well, there's only one victor, right? (*cough* Katniss and Peeta *cough*)**

** Disclaimer: Thanks for reminding me that I don't own the Hunger Games. Aren't you just a little ray of sunshine?**

I have an awful dream, but I can't open my mouth to scream, and the drugs are keeping me from waking up. My dead mother is there, telling me all about the wedding Marlin and Azula just had.

I can still see where she was caught in that fire almost five years ago. Half of her body is completely burned. I remember her running back into the house to grab the twins. She threw their crib out the window of our burning house, but she couldn't get out. It was a horrible night.

When I come to, I am in a white room with no doors. "Where am I?!" I scream. No one answers. The morphling has removed the pain from where Oliver stabbed my shoulder. I feel my shoulder. No sign that I was stabbed there at all. I run my hands across my cheek. A slight edge goes from my ears to my lips. My nose has a slight bump, but it's not noticeable. But I can't see anything. Everything is blurry. Why did Oliver have to injure my eyes? I need my eyes to see Marlin when I go home.

A panel in the wall opens and an old man in a lab coat steps in. He walks over to my bed and hold my eyes open as he puts a clear disk in. What is that? At once the thing attaches itself to my eye. He does the other eye. "A contact, so you can see. It stays on there forever now. No maintenance is needed," he says. I am mildly creeped out by this. It's just going to live like a bacteria on my eye?

He sits down in a chair that I didn't even see. "Good afternoon, Ms. Marino- "How long has it been since I won the games?" He looks taken aback by my bluntness, but recovers quickly. "I'm going to ask you a few questions to- "How long since I won?" I say through gritted teeth. "Two days." I nod and relax.

"Now, where was I? I'm going to ask you a few questions to determine your stability. What weapon killed the final tribute?" "It was a throwing axe. I don't see how this has anything to do with my sanity." He ignores me and asks the next question. "And what was his name?" "Oliver Quarry. You should know this, aren't you a Capitol citizen?"

He decides to not listen to anything but my answer to the questions. "Can you describe your dress and your hair from your tribute interview?" "Um, my hair was curly, and it had a tiny crown made of opals and pearls. And my dress was to the floor, white and pearly. It was strapless, with a black waist band. I want my wedding dress to look like that."

"One more question. What is the name of your fiancé?" I snort. "Shouldn't I be asking _you_ that question? His name is Marlin, stupid." "You got a perfect score. We were a little worried when you fainted right after the games, but can see now that you're just fine."

"One more thing. Finnick told me Marlin would come and visit me in the Capitol if I won. Is he here?" "No, you will see him when you go back home." Rage fills me to the core. How dare Finnick lie to me?

"Then do me a favor, will you? Give my mentor dearest a message from me," I say calmly. "What's the message again?" he asks. _"From the princess. To my mentor dearest, thanks for giving me a piece of crap for fake F****** MOTIVATION!" _I yell, screaming the last two words at the top of my lungs.

"Hit her up!" whispers the doctor into a little microphone as he stands up and turns away from him. A cold liquid seeps into my arms as the he walks from the room. They must be monitoring me, I realize, as the morphling seeps from the needle into a vein on my arm. The world goes black.


	21. Chapter 21

**Sorry it's so short! I'm literaly in the middle of the woods on a camping trip, at 1 o'clock in the morning!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games.**

"Darling, wake up!" "Mom?!" "Yes, darling, it's me. We're all here!" I sit up and stretch. "Where am I?" "We don't know," says River. "Riv- River?" My bottom lip trembles. "Hey, Victoria," he says. Maddie, Anna, River, and my mother are standing in a semicircle around me.

"You could join us, you know. We're all so happy here," Maddie says. Her eyes have lost the insane glint they harbored in the last few days of the games. She still has the knife sticking f her stomach. "Yeah, ViVi, Marlin doesn't need you that much," Anna says.

My mother smiles wickedly. "He doesn't need you, Victoria. He has Azula," River says. I begin to crawl backwards. "No, no, he needs me. Azula… I'd kill her if she makes a move on him," I say, standing up.

"But you need to join us. All you need is a knife. Marlin could do it too. What kind of message would it send to the districts if the Capitol can't keep a Career victor alive, at least until the victory tour? A strong one indeed. It might even be strong enough to convince the districts that the Capitol is weakening," my mother says.

They talk convincingly. I hesitate. Would it really be that bad? I mean, I'd be here with all of them. And if Marlin does it too, that would just be a bonus. I shake the hesitance away.

"No. I didn't fight with Oliver that long to go home and kill myself. I have so much to live for, my life can't end yet. I'll just have to hope that the Capitol falls before my children are old enough to be reaped," I argue.

"Whatever you say. Now wake up, you'll be late for your victor's interview!"

**Sorry it's short! Had a really busy week! R&R, please!**


	22. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games.**

I awake suddenly to find my eyes mirrored by someone hovering above me. I scream and kick out, narrowly missing Finnick's stomach. He dodges out of the way. "YOU! YOU DISGUSTING, LYING, CHEATING… YOU'RE SO HORRIBLE I DON'T EVEN NO WHAT TO CALL YOU, FINNICK ODAIR!" I scream as I struggle to break out of the straps keeping me on the bed.

"Yeah, I get that a lot, mostly from Annie. I'm used to it," he says glumly. "Funny, I was under the impression that she likes you and you like her," I say testily. He pales. "No, she most definitely does not like me at all. I don't like her, either," he says a little too quickly, shaking his head. Then he sighs, undoing the straps. "Thanks for unstrapping me," I say. Then I slap him across the face. He holds his face and starts whimpering.

"Stop being a retard. You won't get any sympathy from me, FiFi," I say, grinning evilly. "Whatever you say, princess," he says, "By the way, I told them to not surgically correct the scar from that knife on your face. Thought you'd want to keep it." I smile and nod, glad that someone in this hellhole they call the Capitol understands me.

"Are there cameras in here?" I whisper. He nods slightly. "Oh, princess, I think you need fresh air. I'll take you to the roof," he says loudly. Once, up there, I tell him about my dream. "Don't do it. It's not worth it. I tried after my games, and Mags caught me." I blink in surprise.

"I'm sorry for lying to you about Marlin." "Yeah, I feel like punching you for that." "Please don't. You punch too hard for your own good." We sit in silence for a few minutes. "Well, I'm going downstairs to eat something. I'm famished," I finally say. We ride the elevator back to Level 4.

When I step out, I am tackled by Leona, who is squealing is so high-pitched that I can't understand a word she's saying. I just smile and nod until she stops jumping up and down. She escorts me to the dinner table, where Liza hugs me and congratulates me.

An avox puts a plate of grilled fish in front of me. Finnick immediately pushes it out of the way and hands me a bowl of that raspberry soup instead. I give him a grateful look. Fish would just make me homesick.

After a while, Liza pulls me into my old room and shows me my dress. It's navy blue, and down to my knees. When I put it on, it's almost glowing with heat. "It gets really cold on stage, so the dress heats up. All you have to do is dress the button on the bottom ruffle to control the temperature," Liza explains.

I feel my stomach. Liza explains that there's extra padding to make I look like I was before the games. I look into the mirror. My cheekbones are too prominent, and my cheeks are hollowed. I look awful. Plus, the shoulder that Oliver stabbed through hurts worse than hell.

My prep team does my makeup. Same thing as for the interview, but now the eye shadow is dark blue. I ask when I will go back to District 4. She says tomorrow. I growl, I want to go home now. I am jittery with anticipation at my coming wedding.

"Your interview is in half an hour. What do you want to do until then?" Liza asks. "Um, can I go eat some more? I'm still so hungry." "That's fine."


	23. Chapter 23

**Thanks to Bookworm2412 for following an a guest for reviewing!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games.**

"You could have let me take that. It was on a portable plate," I say when the elevator doors close. "It's the morphling that's making you hungry. And that plate was made of glass, it wasn't portable," Finnick says matter-of-factly. I cross my arms and growl. "Hey, back off, princess. You wouldn't want to get any blood on your little dress, would you?" I try not to laugh, but the smile shows through anyway.

At Caesar's cue, I walk out on stage. Hundreds of people scream my name. I don't know why they're so excited, this happens every year. He introduces me (yeah, like anybody doesn't know who I am) and then the lights dim so we can watch the film of the games.

They start with my speech at the reaping. After that I see Finnick and Marlin running down the hallway of the Justice Building. I furrow my brow. Victors aren't allowed to go into the goodbyes. The Capitol thinks they might try to get in some extra planning.

Finnick accidentally knocks a vase on the table as he picks up another. The peacekeeper guarding my door calls for reinforcements, but Finnick breaks the second vase over his head. The peacekeeper falls. Marlin enters my room, and Finnick closes the door and walks away whistling.

I glance offstage at him. He wiggles his eyebrows and grins. I can't help but smile back. I guess I owe Finnick more than I give him credit for. They show the chariot parade, them me throwing tridents and axes in training, then me in my interview dress.

The countdown comes next. Then me swimming to the island and tossing weapons to the others. Me slaughtering those innocent children comes next. I force myself to smile, because I'm the one who played the strong career card, while making my dress go down forty degrees. I'm sweating badly, and I feel like crying.

The rest of the film focuses on the deaths and the parachutes. Also, Maddie, Anna, and I's conversation. They spend ten minutes on River's death scene. The tears are welling up in my eyes. Thank god it's dark.

I use my hand to wipe my face carefully, so that my makeup doesn't smear. It ends with me passing out. What a great ending, I think as I roll my eyes. The lights flicker on, and Caesar starts asking me questions. After all, the crowning is in fifteen minutes.

"Do you have any shoes on, miss?" "No." "So tell me, you said your hobby's going to be singing?" "Yes." It's almost painful to talk after seeing that video, so I try to make my answers as short as possible. Also, my stomach is somersaulting, and I feel nauseous.

"Do you know when your wedding will be?" "Maybe in a few weeks." "Will it be televised?" "Duh." Caesar raises his eyebrows, taken aback by rudeness, but he recovers quickly. "Okay, let's look at the official placing, shall we?" Caesar asks. The placing shows up on the screen. The ones I killed are bolded.

24th- **Abe Velveti, District 8**

23rd- **Elasha Electra, District 5**

22nd- Sydney Cole, District 12

21st- Jacqueline Birch, District 7

20th- Tio Fuelor, District 6

19th- **Savanah Tulipa, District 11**

18th- Camillo Barnes, District 10

17th- Carson Bell, District 5

16th- Vivian Silk, District 8

15th- Emil Protons, District 3

14th- Brandon Oaks, District 7

13th- Cato Templin, District 12

12th- Elliot Rye, District 11

11th- Sophie Motors, District 6

10th- **Wheat Whalder, Distract 9**

9th- Alistair Gleam, District 1

8th- Caroline Plasmi, District 3

7th- Anna Sevine, District 2

6th- Madeline Emeralds, District 1

5th- **Sarah Barley, District 9**

4th-** Katherine Bucket, District 10**

3rd- River Trinana, District 4

2nd- **Oliver Quarry, District 2**

I can't believe how many people I've killed. "So, seven kills. Quite an impressive number. That's almost a third of the playing field," Caesar says proudly. "I know," I choke out. I clench my hands into fist to keep from crying. My blood runs cold with shame and regret. How am I going to face all those families on the victory tour?

Caesar announces the crowning, and I stand up like I'm supposed to. President Snow walks onto the stage, followed by a girl carrying a crown made of pearls and opals on a velvet pillow. From District 1 and 8, I think bitterly.

Snow picks it up and places it on my head with his gloved hands. He stares into my eyes and congratulates me on my victory. I try not to gag on the smell of roses as I shake his hand. He clips something onto my necklace and walk away. It's a rose charm.

I walk of the stage and immediately collapse into Finnick's arms. Someone snatches the crown off my head. "Ugh, why do I feel so bad?" I ask him groggily. He doesn't even flinch when I throw up my dinner up all over him."I bet someone poisoned the food you ate earlier," he says as we get on the elevator.

"But who would want to poison her? She's the newest victor!" Leona says nosily, coming up beside me. "Districts 2, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11," I choke out. "She killed one or more of those districts' tributes during the games," FiFi tells Leona when she looks confused. "Oh," is all she says.

Finnick carries me to my room when we get to Level 4, and tucks me into bed. "Well, goodnight. Sweet dreams, princess!" he says before closing the door, leaving me in complete and utter darkness. The entire night, I am tormented by those I have killed, but I'm just too tired to wake up.


	24. Chapter 24

**I am typing this from my ipod, so there will probably be more mistakes then usual. We are past a thousand views now! I'm so excited! And thanks to the guest who reviewed! More more more is coming up soon!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games.**

The train ride feels like days, but it's really only seven hours. I sit in a chair by the window with a book. It's taking way too long. They should make the trains faster for victors. Finnick comes in. "Ten minutes left." I jump out of my seat and drop the book I've been pretending to read for the past five hours. "The Twilight Saga", what a horrible book. I shudder at its awfulness.

Finnick scowls at me shoves his hands in his pockets as he turns away from me. I roll my eyes and run past him to the bar car, grabbing his arms on the way. "We need a toast," I tell him.

He perks up immediately and rushes ahead of me. He grabs two bottles of wine and shoves one into my hands. "To love, for how could we live without it?" he says as he uncorks his bottle.

I undo mine and take a tiny sip. He, however, drains the entire bottle. He swallows, then hiccups. I stare at him, repulsed. He smiles weakly. "It's how I get through it," he says.

Leona comes in and sees the bottle. She tuts disapprovingly. "That's not the right thing to do in your situation, Finnick!" she says. Before I can ask what his situation is, Leona ushers me towards the door.

I'm suddenly conscious of what I'm wearing, a beige dress. Will Marlin like it? Of course he will, my conscience says. He'll make as one sappy comment about it and everything will go back to normal.

I position myself at the door as we pull into the station and brave myself for cheering. Instead, I am tackled by Azula, Coral, and Pearl. My family is the only one in the station, besides the camera crews. I have to keep myself from crying out in dissappointment. I love my sisters, but I need to hug Marlin NOW.

"He's at the back," Azula whispers in my ear. I continue to hold all three of them as I kiss my father's cheek. "See you tomorrow, ViVi," Azula whispers. "What's tomorrow?" I ask. "Oh, nothing important," she says, trying to cover up the fact that she said something.

I glance towards the back of the station and see him, hidden in the shadows at the way back of the station. Coral and Pearl unhook themselves from my waist, and Azula takes her arms from around my neck.

I slowly start walking towards him, picking up speed as I go, finally running towards him at full speed. I launch myself into his arms, and the force almost makes him fall over. He hesitates, then crushes me with a hug.

I look up and smile when I see tears in his eyes. "Why are you crying, love?" "I- I thought I'd never see you again. I love you, I love you so much." I hug him tighter as he plants a kiss on my forehead. Oh, this is the piece of heaven I've been craving since I was taken to the Capitol.

After a minute or two, he untangles himself from my arms and pulls me outside by my hand. The cheering hits me like a gunshot. Marlin raises his hand in mine and the crowd cheers even louder.

After about twenty minutes of smiling and waving, my mouth is hurting and my arms are stiff. The people are thinning, so we walk to Victor's Village. "Um... the Victor's Committee from the Capitol and I agreed that you could just live at my house from now on," he says timidly.

"But what about my family?" We take the stairs from the Village to the beach. He points to a bungalow with construction equipment scattered around it. "I had someone build that for them while you were gone," he says.

"You just keep getting better and better, don't you?" He smiles. "Oh, I forgot something. Hold in a sec." He rushes back up the stairway and comes back down. "Picnic?" He asks, holding out a basket. I grin and take his hand. He spreads the blanket on the sand. "You know, Mrs. Shores, two days ago I had a picnic out here with your sisters." I smile.

"Have you ever thought for one second that we're too young to get married? I'm mean, I'm only eighteen," I say before I can stop myself. "Yeah, a lot can happen in a few years. What if by the time you're thirty you don't love me anymore?" "Fat chance of that happening! I didn't kill seven people to come home and stop loving you."

"Did I tell you that you look beautiful in that dress?" "Great way to change the subject, Marlin." "Just trying to make you happy, princess." "Don't call me that," I snap. He blinks slowly, then recovers his cool and offers me a sandwich. Mmm, tuna salad. "Did Annie make this?" I ask him. He nods. Annie's father runs the deli/bakery, and Annie's talent is cooking.

We finish eating and watch the sunset, just like we used to. Except now both of us are murderers. "When they interviewed you about me, what did you say?" I ask. "I don't remember. It was awful, though, talking about the person you love the most when they might die at any second. You don't know how it feels."

"Yeah, I do. They interviewed me for your games." "You loved me even back then?" "Hell yeah. You were a hot fifteen year old, you know that?" I say, taking his hand. He grins as we walk back to his house. "Oh, hold on one second." I unclip President's Snows rose charm from my necklace and hurl it into the water. "Thanks, President Snow, but no thanks," I whisper under my breath. I dust my hands off and continue walking.

When we get back to the house, Marlin sends me off to take a shower, claiming I reek of the Capitol. When I come out, there's a loaf of seaweed bread on the counter. Man, Marlin knows me so well.

He comes in and sits down across from me, combing his hair. I ruffle it up, saying it looks better that way. We split the bread, and then brush our teeth. Marlin doesn't want to, but when I tell him I won't kiss him unless he does, he picks up a toothbrush.

Then I head to the guest room, because I'm modest like that, and I fall asleep instantly. Three hours later, Marlin's arms are wrapped me while I try to stop trembling from the nightmares.

"Was it about your experiences in the arena? Do you want to talk about it?" he asks. "I saw you. Getting m-married, having ch-children, g-growing old, and d-dying, but not with, it was with Azula. Why can't I have the normal dreams where the people I've killed torment me?" I cry, still trembling.

"Trust me, you don't want those. Those are the worst. And I would never do that to you, you know that," Marlin says, trying to calm me down. I eventually stop shaking. "If you want, you can sleep in here tonight. It might help with the nightmares."

The look on my face must have been weird, because he squirms. "I mean, you don't have to if it makes you uncomfortable," he stammers. I put a finger to his lips. "Why would it make me uncomfortable? You're the person I love the most."

He throws the covers over me and lays down next to me. I fall asleep cocooned in his arms.


	25. Chapter 25

**Sorry it's so short! I have a test everyday for the next week! And thanks to PrimIsTheBomb (guest) for reviewing! I wish I had a boyfriend like that, too! And I love your username! (It's a pun I've used many times to annoy the heck out of my friends at school!) **

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games.**

"Get up, ViV! Today's a big day!" "Ugh, come on Marlin, it's my first day back, can't I sleep in?" "But I have a surprise for you," he says, pulling on the sleeve of my shirt. What'sthe surprise?" "Well, Liza took the information she says you told the girl from 1- "Madeline. And she took what she says I said? Did you even watch my games, Marlin?"

He hangs his head. "Only the parade and the scores, and the interviews." "Why didn't you watch?" I say angrily, sitting up. "I tried. It- it was too painful." I nod, because that's understandable. "Anyway, she took the info and got the decorations. And a folder full of wedding dresses for you to pick from."

"Spit it out, the suspense is killing me," I complain. "Okay, okay, you get to pick out a dress for tonight." I sit up straight. "TONIGHT?!" He nods. I jump up and literally drag him down the stairs. "Wait. You can't see my dress. That's bad luck," I say suddenly, halfway down the stairs. I relinquish my grip on his wrist. He holds his hand and rubs the red marks on it. I guess I have a strong grip. "How 'bout I help you narrow it down?" he asks. I narrow my eyes, and he makes a pouty face. "Fine. But only 'cause you make an adorable puppy face."

"I see the one I want!" I say after he finishes laying them out on the table. He goes to get Liza while I put them back into their folder. Liza comes in and hugs me. I push Marlin out of the room and show her the one I want. She takes the picture and leaves through the side door..

Marlin wraps me in a bear hug, and I hug him back tightly. "I can't wait to see you in that dress walking towards me," he whispers in my ear. "You know, Marlin, now that I've caught you in my net, I'm never letting you go," I whisper back. "Are you kidding? You didn't catch me, I literally swam into the net."


	26. Chapter 26

**Thanks to ejr20021 for following! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games. I don't own the trident of Finnick Odair. Sigh.**

I love my dress. It has long lace sleeves that tickle my arms. The bodice is tight and covered in diamonds. The bottom has pearls sewn into it to make it glimmer. My hair is perfect, loosely curled and pulled back slightly. I wear a small crown of sea-green pearls and opals, to bring out my eyes. My makeup is almost non-existent, only covering my scar, so you can't see it. My eyes are lined with something the prep team calls kohl, which make my eyes even more noticeable.

My father takes my hand as Liza clips on my veil. We walk down the stairs from Victor's Village onto the beach. There's a long white carpet covered in red rose petals that my father and I walk on. And, of course, I wear no shoes. The sunset has turned the sky a spectacular purple-blue color. There aren't many people here, which is fine with me. The less, the better. More people would just ruin it.

I make a mental list of who's here. My sisters and my father, Remora, and Annie's family. Then there's the cameras from the Capitol, and the rest of the victors from for. Mags, Triton, Ray, Sandy, Emily, Neptune, Hyacinth, Finnick, Annie, Amphitrite. There's two more that are deceased, Julian and Kaia. Including Marlin and I, there's eight girls and six boys. Other than that, though, that's it. Marlin's family was killed the year after he won, so of course they won't be here.

I stand where I'm supposed to, right across from Marlin. I find myself blushing as I meet his intense gaze. Finnick drapes the wedding net over us, since Mags (who's presiding over the wedding) is too short. Mags reads from the book that all the fishermans carry with them, the one that's forbidden but carried anyway. She fills a bowl with salt water and holds it out to us. We dip our fingers in it and press it to each other's lips. Marlin's fingers are warm, and the saltwater smells good, just like the water from home Finnick sent me during the games.

Then she motions for us to say out vows. Marlin goes first.

"I, Marlin Hudson Shores, take you, Victoria Rose Marino, to be my beloved wife, my constant friend, my faithful partner, and my love from this day forward. In the presence of our family and friends, I offer you my solemn vow to be your faithful partner in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad, in joy and in sorrow. I promise to love you unconditionally, to support you in your goals, to honor and respect you, to laugh with you and cry with you, and to cherish you for as long as we both shall live."

I have tears in my eyes. My lips find themself moving, completing his already said words.

"I, Victoria Rose Marino, take you, Marlin Hudson Shores, to be my beloved husband, my constant friend, my faithful partner and my love from this day forward. In the presence of our family and friends, I offer you my solemn vow to be your faithful partner in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad, in joy and in sorrow. I promise to love you unconditionally, to support you in your goals, to honor and respect you, to laugh with you and cry with you, and to cherish you for as long as we both shall live."

Mags nods and moves her hands in what I take to be a kiss-the-bride gesture. Marlin takes my face in his hands and kisses me. Warmth spreads down my entire body, making my toes tingle. The kiss seems to last forever, even though it's only a few seconds. Then Finnick takes the net off of us. A little boy holding a pillow with two rings on it comes up next to me.

I pick up the ring I bought for Marlin about two hours and slide it on to his finger. He takes mine, a small pearl ring, and slips it onto my finger. The little boy just stands there, his wide blue-green eyes glancing around. Hmm... they remind me of someone, but I can't remember who. Marlin and I walk down the aisle and up the staircase holding hands. I slip into our house to change, because my dress is sorta heavy, then slip back out and walk the rest of the way to the Justice Building with Marlin, who was waiting for me.

The mayor's son, Guy, is already in the grand ballroom. Azula must have invited him. After all, her attention span is much too short to sit around for hours and wait to go home. I get to do the honors of shutting the doors in front of the Capitol cameras, because the Capitol citizens don't deserve to see the reception. I dance with Marlin most of the time. I dance with each of my sisters, and once with my father. I also dance with Finnick once, because he did get me out of the arena alive, but the rest of the time he dances with Annie.

What's up with him? He SHOULD be nursing a hangover from drinking that entire bottle of wine yesterday evening, but instead he's dancing? I don't get it- Ahh, he lied to me. So, Panem's resident playboy actually has feelings? And since when? I see him go get punch for both of them, so I walk over.

"I know about you and her," I whisper in his ear. He looks up, and I literally can see his eyes dilate in fear, so much that you can barely see the sea-green part. "Please, princess... you can't tell anyone... I only do it so they won't hurt anybody. If I didn't, they'd hurt her... in unspeakable ways..." "I don't know what you're talking about, FiFi, I only meant that I know you like her. You lied to me in the Capitol, you really should get help for that," I say, rolling my eyes.

He lets out a relieved sigh. "But seriously, what do you do that I can't know about?' I ask him curiously. "You'll find out... eventually," he says, laughing bitterly. "Never mind, then, I'll just have Marlin tell me later," I say. I feel a tugging on my skirt and turn around to find the pillow boy with his hand on my dress.

"Oh, that's Noah. He's River's brother," Finnick says airily, like our conversation never happened. I glance at him, then turn back to Noah and get on my knees. Yes, it's definitely River's brother. "The tall man over there-" he points to Marlin, "-told me to ask you to dance. He says it's my turn," he says timidly. Oh, he's sooo cute. I ruffle his bronze hair, but it just sticks back up again. "Well then, lead me to the dance floor."

It's kind of hard to dance with him, since he's so short, but somehow I make it work. When the song is over, I lead him back to a man that can only be his father. I stay and chat for a while, but eventually I have to turn away because they both remind me of River so much it's painful. River's gruesome death flashes through my mind over and over again.

The party ends when Leona (who was NOT invited) shows up and reminds everybody that I need my beauty sleep. I walk home with Marlin, who tells me who lives in which Victor's house. "-then Hyacinth, then Amphitrite, then Finnick and Annie, then us." " Whoa, FiFi and Annie live together?" "Yeah, they ran out of houses, but they told me and Finn that she had to live with one of us, since apparently she's certifiably insane, so Finn volunteered to take her in." I tell him about what Finnick said at the punch bowl.

"Oh, you mean how President Snow sells his body evertime he goes to the Capitol? Yeah, either you do it or Snow has hitmen kill your family," Marlin says, squeezing my hand tightly. "Did you ever get sold?" I ask him. "I... I don't want to talk about it." "No, no, I'm married to you now, I have the right to know." "Fine. Yes, I was sold. And he my family killed anyway, just to show he could. Except my brother, Caspian. Snow rigged the reaping for him the year after I won. He didn't stand a chance."

"They can actually rig the reaping?" I ask in wonder. I knew it was possible, but Marlin did what Snow asked, so why have his family killed? "Yeah, and I'll bet anything he rigged it for you when he found out you were my girlfriend. I surprisingly managed to keep that quiet for a few years, thanks to the fact that you were my friend before the games."

I'm shocked. "You really think it was rigged for me?" I ask as I sit down on his- no, our bed. I hadn't even realized that we had went up the stairs and I had taken off my sky-blue chiton and pullled on one of Marlin's t-shirts. They go down to my knees, because even though I'm tall, he's half a foot taller than me. "Eeew, Marlin, you didn't look away when I changed clothes!" I whine. My mother raised a proper young lady in me, thank you very much.

"We're married now, remember?" he says, grinning mischeviously. I giggle and close the door.


	27. Chapter 27

**Thanks to Em74 and a guest for reviewing! Your comments made my day! Just to make this clear, this takes place five months after the wedding, on the eve of the victory tour. Every time there is a song in the rest of the chapters, I'll mention the artist at the top. So, thank you, the Band Perry.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games.**

It's only been five months, and already I'm already keeping a secret from Marlin. Not that it's bad or anything. I'm just... waiting for the right time to tell him. Like on the victory tour, because Finnick actually didn't lie about that. Marlin really is coming with me. I suspect it's because Finnick has heard me screaming at night when Marlin had been called to the Capitol. I thought Capitol people were sick, taking a just-married man and selling him for the highest bidder. But Marlin was only called to iron out the details of him on the tour, and he was back in a day. Finnick still had to come and wake me up the night he was gone, though.

Marlin has been trying to prepare me for the emotional cost of the victory tour. Together, we've been building up a wall of fake smiles and thank yous for when I face the families of those I have killed. The trick, Marlin says, is to look at their nose, not their eyes. They think that you're looking at them, but really you're staring elsewhere, trying not to notice how their eyes look just like your victims' eyes.

I'm looking at sketchs of dresses Liza has sent me while Marlin jots thing down on a piece of paper. Suddenly, my eyes go wide. "Marlin, I just realized I don't know what your talent is!" I shriek. "You promise you won't laugh?" It seems like an odd request, but I agree. "I play guitar." I laugh so hard I almost fall off the chair. "You said you wouldn't laugh!" he says, sticking out his lower lip, trying to look sad. "No, no, I'm only laughing because our talents are made for each other, just like us!" He smiles. "I suppose they are. I could play you a song if you want." I nod. He goes to get his guitar.

I go to the file cabinet full of music that he has and pick a sheet at random. If I Die Young is the title. It looks really old. I walk back to find Marlin tuning a guitar. I clear my throat and begin to sing after giving him the music.

"If I die young, bury me in satin  
Lay me down on a bed of roses  
Sink me in the river at dawn  
Send me away with the words of a love song

Uh oh, uh oh

Lord make me a rainbow, I'll shine down on my mother  
She'll know I'm safe with you when she stands under my colors, oh,  
And life ain't always what you think it ought to be, no  
Ain't even grey, but she buries her baby

The sharp knife of a short life, oh well  
I've had just enough time

If I die young, bury me in satin  
Lay me down on a bed of roses  
Sink me in the river at dawn  
Send me away with the words of a love song

The sharp knife of a short life, oh well  
I've had just enough time

And I'll be wearing white, when I come into your kingdom  
I'm as green as the ring on my little cold finger,  
I've never known the lovin' of a man  
But it sure felt nice when he was holdin' my hand,  
There's a boy here in town, says he'll love me forever,  
Who would have thought forever could be severed by...

...the sharp knife of a short life, oh well?I've had just enough time

So put on your best, boys, and I'll wear my pearls  
What I never did is done

A penny for my thoughts, oh, no, I'll sell 'em for a dollar  
They're worth so much more after I'm a goner  
And maybe then you'll hear the words I been singin'  
Funny when you're dead how people start listenin'

If I die young, bury me in satin  
Lay me down on a bed of roses  
Sink me in the river at dawn  
Send me away with the words of a love song

Uh oh (uh, oh)  
The ballad of a dove (oh, uh)  
Go with peace and love  
Gather up your tears, keep 'em in your pocket  
Save 'em for a time when you're really gonna need 'em, oh

The sharp knife of a short life, oh well  
I've had just enough time

So put on your best, boys, and I'll wear my pearls..."

"Wow, we sound good together." "Yeah, we do," I reply. "Wow, it's already ten o'clock? We have to wake up early tomorrow, we need some rest!" Marlin says, leading me upstairs. He throws the blankets over me, then lays down next to me. He never sleeps with blankets, because he gets hotflashes from his games, as well as the usual nightmares. "Goodnight. I love you," he says tiredly. I snuggle up against him as his breathing slows.

Usually his slowed breathing makes me drowsy, but tonight it's just annoying. I get up and take a sleeping pill, the kind designed by someone in the Capitol especially for victors. I feel the effects immediately as I lay back down. I curl myself back up under Marlin's arm and sigh, sleepy at last.

Three hours later, I awake to Marlin's screaming. I shake him awake. "Marlin, wake up! Whatever it is, it's not real! No one's going to hurt you anymore! I'm right here!" He crushes with a hug. "I'm surprised you didn't wake yourself up, screaming like that," I say, getting him to sit up. "I was that loud?" he asks. I nod. He buries his face in his hands. "What was it this time?" I ask, massaging his back to relieve stress and tension. We have both become excellent at giving massages, because every single night, one or both of us wake up screaming and need to be calmed down.

"It was you... and there was... two... two children. We were all chained to chairs. And Snow was torturing all three of you. A thousand cuts... death by a thousand cuts." "I'm right here. As long as I'm with you, I'm safe." "I'm so afraid for you, that something's going to happen to you on the tour." "As I said before: as long as I'm with you, I feel safe. I am safe. C'mon, let's get some sleep. I's like one in the morning."

"This sounds stupid, but... can I hug you? To make sure nothing happens?" "Nothing's going to happen... and it's not stupid. Now go to sleep!" He wraps his arms around me tightly. It's not the most comfortable thing, but if this means sleep, let him do it.


	28. Chapter 28

**Thank you Selena Gomez and the Scene. This song is from Selena's album "Kiss and Tell". **

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games.**

"Awww, you two look sooooooooo CUTE together! Phil, come get a picture of this! The others in the Capitol would love this. It's positively ador- VICTORIA!" Leona screams and ducks out of the way as a knife whizzes across the room, narrowly missing her head. Well, she's got only herself to blame. First off, how the hell did she even get in here? Second, she just can't take a picture of Marlin and I sleeping together. Third, everyone knows I sleep with a knife under my pillow for protection. Or at least Marlin, Finnick, Annie, Mags, my sisters, and Liza do. "Leona, how did you get in here?" I growl, very much annoyed.

"Liza gave me her key. And don't throw knives at people, it's very rude," she says, sticking her nose up in the air. Marlin stuffs his fist in his mouth to keep from laughing. "Never mind rude. Wouldn't the proper word be... deadly?" he asks, snickering. "Yes, that's ever so funny, young man. " "Leona, why did you wake me up so early? We don't have to leave until three o' clock!" "You have to do your talent film! I hung your dress in the closet. Now get dressed."

My prep team fixes me up, mermaid-braiding my hair and putting on eyeshadow to match my jade-green dress. When I come out, Marlin wolf-whistles and the prep team is reduced to giggles. I go downstairs, where I'm told to pick a song from the cabinet of music. Naturally, hmm... I clear my throat and make sure the cameras are ready.

How you choose to express yourself  
It's all your own and I can tell  
It comes naturally, it comes naturally

You follow what you feel inside  
It's intuitive, you don't have to try  
It comes naturally, mmmm, it comes naturally

And it takes my breath away (away, away, away)  
What you do so naturally (turally, turally, turally)

You are the thunder and I am the lightening  
And I love the way you know who you are and to me it's exciting  
When you know it's meant to be  
Everything comes naturally, it comes naturally  
When you're with me, baby  
Everything comes naturally, it comes naturally  
Ba-ba-baby

You have a way of moving me  
A force of nature, your energy  
It comes naturally (you know it does), it comes naturally  
Mmmm, yeah

And it takes my breath away (away, away) every time  
What you do so naturally

You are the thunder and I am the lightening  
And I love the way you know who you are and to me it's exciting  
When you know it's meant to be  
Everything comes naturally, it comes naturally  
When you're with me, baby  
Everything comes naturally, it comes naturally  
Ba-ba-baby

When we collide sparks fly

When you look in my eyes  
It takes my breath away

(You are) You are the thunder and I am the lightening  
And I love the way you know who you are and to me it's exciting  
When you know it's meant to be  
Everything comes naturally, it comes naturally  
When you're with me, baby  
Everything comes naturally, it comes naturally  
Ba-ba-baby

Everything, baby, comes naturally."

When I'm done, everyone claps loudly. "Now go pack your bags, both of you!" Leona scolds Marlin and I. "You go up, I have to make a call." He trudges up the stairs. I shoo everyone out of the kitchen. "Hello, this is the Capitol Embriodery Service. How may I help you?" a friendly-sounding female voice says on the other line. "Hi, I need to order some things." I tell her what I need. "And where do you live? We have to send it to you via post." "Oh, I'll have someone come pick it up." "What is their name? I don't want to give your ordered items to a thief!" "Oh, let's just say he's quite... famous. You'll know who I mean when you see him." "...Okay. Thank you for your business, and have a nice day!"

I walk back up the stairs. "Is Leona the babysitter from hell or what?" I whisper in his ear as I grab my toothbrush and my deoderant and thow them into the bag. "ViVi, please take off that dress. That color is making me sick!" Marlin groans. "Y-you don't like it?" I stammer. He always compliments whatever I wear, and he never has anything negative to say. So why say it now? "You look great, but that color... my tribute uniform..." Oh, this must remind him of his arena. I go to the closet to change, and step out wearing the beige dress I came home in.

I walk down the stairs to find Marlin waiting for me halfway down. "I remember that dress! You look beautiful." He kisses my cheek. I blush. "There are people watching us!" I complain. "Nah, they love it. They love it almost as much as they love their sick form of entertainment they call the Hunger Games." "Shh, they're still here! And you can bet this house is bugged."

We walk to the station in silence. "Are we both mentoring next year?" I ask when we'e on board. He makes a face and nods. Then he sighs. "I hope we get good ones. Getting weaklings or extremely arrogant muscle machines is the worst." I get an avox to get me a pen and a pencil. I have to write my speeches, after all. I have Marlin write the speeches for districts whose tributes I didn't kill. For the ones I killed, it's the same, except I add something personal at the end, like respect for their training score, or courage in the face of their death. I begin to write.

The next thing I know, I'm being carried by Marlin to my room on the train. He explains that it's eleven thirty, and that we're about four hours from District 3. "Can you stay with me?" I ask, like a child begging for its mother. "What, you think they gave me my own room? They probably installed cameras in our room so the Capitol sickos can see us sleep together," he says. I fall asleep, sheltered from bad dreams in his arms.


	29. Chapter 29

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games.**

We awake when the train lurches to a stop. I eat an egg and drink a sip of hot chocolate, then I go to change. I have a metallic black dress, with the fabric slightly shredded at the bottom. Just for the technology district, straight from District 8. I walk out onto the stage and see the families. Carline has two little sisters that just like her, with glasses and straight blonde hair. The boy has a brother that just looks bored, like he doesn't care that his brother is gone forever.

The crowd claps politley, obviously relieved that the murderer of their children isn't in front of them. I decide to abandon the speech. I step up th the microphone and find my voice. "I can't tell you how sorry I am. I didn't kill them, but that doesn't mean I'm not sorry. I know you don't like me. I don't expect you to. I came home and they didn't. But you have to learn how to move on. I'll learn with you, because I see them all at night, in my nightmares. Don't mourn their death, celebrate their lives. It will get you through the days ahead. Thank you."

The crowd claps, more real this time. I walk into the Justice Building. I don't pay attention to the feast, because I start talking to Beetee, a previous victor. I ask him to make some things for me. "You'll probably be mentoring this year, so I'll give it to you in the hub. I have a hunch that District 2 is gonna win this year. And District 7's long overdue for a female victor, they'll probably be next. and then District 1 once or twice..." Leona twirps to me that it's time to leave. I thank Beetee as Marlin loops his arm around me. I fall asleep in my dress.

~A day later~

My nightmare was awful last night. "Join us," they had all said. Would it really be that bad? But Marlin... Snow would surely kill him as punishment for my suicide on the tour, if Marlin doesn't kill himself first. I have no doubt that he wouldn't hesitate to join me. But what about my father and my sisters? They would surely be executed for "crimes" against the Capitol in front of the Justice Building, with everyone in the entire district watching them die.

We pull into District 2's station. I walk onto the stage in my short long-sleeved lavender dress with minimal clapping. The sleeves are because it's cold here, but the they also have hidden compartments for valuables... and weapons.I try to look happy, but my stomach is somersaulting as I look at the families.

There's Anna's parents, little brother, and two sisters, Aeneas, Adair, and Clove. The two younger ones have black hair an eyes such a brilliant green I can tell from here. Adair had wavy brown hair, like Anna, and light blue eyes. On Oliver's side, there's his mom and a little boy, about six years old, with blonde hair and blue eyes. He looks at Clove, who is still a little baby, and shakes his head and rolls his eyes. Oh, how ironic if he ended up loving HER of all people. I say the usual speech. Then I add my heartfelt speech, the one that I wrote.

"In District 2, it's an honor to volunteer, but I honestly wish Anna hadn't. Anna, Madeline, and I were more than just allies. I wouldn't exactly call it friends, because we were still all out for each other's blood, but we had a bond that even the games couldn't break. Oliver, on the other hand, was the epitome of a District 2 tribute. Strong, tall, good with weapons. In the training center before the games, I suggested that two of the career learn survival skills. On the way to the Captiol I saw a games where all the Careers died of starvation, a shameful death, because there wasn't any food in the cornucopia. Oliver disagreed immediately, but Anna talked him into it.

"They had a special bond, Anna and Oliver. My heart almost broke when he told her that he loved her." "Oliver has dishonored us all in Two. He showed love during the games because he was weak, unworthy of being a victor. Love, the mark of a weakling," Oliver's little brother says, his surprisingly strong voice echoing off the buildings in the square.

"I beg to differ, Mr..." "Cato." "Well, I beg to differ, Mr. Cato. Love is what makes me strong. Hell, love is the only reason I'm standing in front of you and not Oliver. Thus, showing love is not weak to me. Oliver didn't dishonor you. He showed that just because you're from a District 2 doesn't mean that you're incapable of love. Honor them both, and don't forget them. Thank you."

Someone in the crowd throws something at me. The short knives in my sleeves are dislodged from the tiny pocket and slicing through the apple before it hits me in seconds. It falls to the stage in three pieces. I bow and walk away.

~A day later~

Now we're in District 1. This may be the second hardest, behind District 9. I sleep, I eat breakfast, I let Marlin slip me into my short dark pink dress. I am mechanical. I had the dream again last night, and it's slowly getting to me. I somehow can't scream when I have it, so Marlin doesn't know when to wake me up. My sisters back home is the only thing that keeps me from purposely tripping and falling onto the train tracks. My speech is the same, I say some stuff about Alistair and Maddie, but my attention is on Maddie's siblings.

Her brother Jasper is glaring at me with a look of pure hatred. Her sistirs, Opal, Jade, Aquamarine, and Glimmer, are all smiling at me. The first three are Madeline imposters. The only difference is that they don't have an insanse glint in their eyes. The other, Glimmer, has the stereotypical green eyes of District 1. She twirls her blonde hair idly around her finger, a far away look on her face.

The little food I do eat is good. I just want to have dinner in my room, with Marlin. I fall asleep on the car ride to the station. I am woken up by FiFi, who is carrying me aboard. I start to panic, so he puts me down. "Where's Marlin?" "He's... busy. He'll meet back up with us in District 10." "But he was supposed to be here with me the entire time!" "I said he's busy, princess."

As soon as we're on the train, I start screaming at Finnick. He leads me to my room by my hand. "Get your hands off of me, FiF!" I scream as I try to pull my left arm from his grasp. "Shut your mouth, princess!" He closes the door.

Looking around around the room, he pulls a listening device from the frame of a painting on my wall, microphones from my lamp and the doormat, and a camera from the knob on the bathroom doorknob.

He throws them out into the hallway. He sits down in a chair and sighs. I curl up into a ball on my bed. "He.. he was supposed to be here protect me. What's going to happen to us now?" I ask, scratching at my stomach. He is confused for a moment, but then it dawns on him. "Really? Gonna reveal it in the Capitol?" I nod.

"Then that's why Marlin was summoned by Snow. Snow must have found out somehow, and he threatened Marlin with it." "But Marlin doesn't even know!" I argue. Finnick shrugs. "I noticed you didn't eat at the feast. Let me go get you some fish." "Bring a knife for the bones." He nods and leaves the room.

As I wait, I silenly pray that Snow doesn't tell Marlin my secret. I wanted to tell him so badly, and I made the mistake of waiting to tell him, and now Snow was going to ruin that, too. Finnick puts a plate in front of me and sits back down in the chair. "I'm sorry, but I need to be alone right now." He nods and leaves.

I eat the fish, picking out the bones with the knife. Then I take the knife in my hands and examine. It would be so easy to just kill myself, right now. My family reminds me that I can't. But it's so tempting. How about trying it on a smaller scale to see how it feels? Yes, that's a good idea. I cut 'I need' on one of my arms, and 'Marlin' on the other. The room spins, the floor comes up to meet me, and the world goes black.

**Let me just say this: I do not in any way encourage self-injury. The scars ViVi will have from this are very important in the next chapter, and then again at the end of the book. If you are harming yourself in anyway, I encourage you to get help, and I want to remind you that you are strong and beautiful, on the inside and out. I hope you never feel alone, because there are others in this world who care about you, and they are praying for your safety everyday.**


	30. Chapter 30

**I am happy to announce that his story has over 1500 views! I'm about to implode with happiness. Thanks to a guest and Fanista101. To the former, I read your review right before I took a math test, and it calmed me down enough to concentrate (cause math test make me hypervenilate- literally.) I got a 94, so thanks a ton! To the latter, the careers have to be friendly for the most part, because if they weren't, ViVi would have nightmares about them. I'm basing all of her nightmares off of Marlin and other family members (hint hint) because ViVi loves them so much.**

**Disclaimer: Ugh, my stomach hurts. So does my heart when I remember that I don't own the Hunger Games.**

My pale arms are scarred. Doesn't matter, though. They tell the truth. Finnick has banned all the avoxes from giving me anything that I could use to stab or myself. It took us two days to get to District 12. It's freezing here, and my strapless black velvet dress isn't helping. The idea that I'm freezing my butt off while Marlin's entertaining some Capitol ladies makes me steam in anger. Unfortunately, my anger doesn't keep me warm, even though it's steaming.

Warm, humid District 11 in the south and my lime green dress fly by quickly, and I cry myself to sleep. Finnick wakes me up twice, because apparently I was scaring the hell out of him with my screaming. I would think he'd be used to nightmare screams, living with Annie and all, but according to him she hardly screams at all when he's in the house.

Finally we're in sunny District 10, and my heavy marroon dress matches my attitude. My train pull away and another pulls up. I want him, I need him so bad, but I am NOT going to give him the satisfaction of leaving suddenly and me running back to him when he returns. He steps off his train with a duffel bag, his eyes red and puffy. When he spots me, he makes a beeline for me.

He tries to kiss my cheek, but I stick my hand between him and my face. HIs face falls. "Hello." I sound so cold and unforgiving, but my heart is breaking. "Turns out I can do the tour and not have mightmares when you're not here, so you can run back to your Capitol ladies if you want." "I... I didn't have a choice, Victoria!" Wow, he almost never calls me that. "I would be nicer if you had told me where you were going." "It was an immediate order. I would have told you, but..."

I yank up the sleeves of my thin sweatshirt that I've been wearing so Leona won't see my arms and what I've done to them. Lord knows she would either have a heart attack or say it was really romantic that I need Marlin THAT much. "It's been fun without you. I've taken up a new hobby, you see. Carving." He looks at my arms, stunned, his mouth opening and closing like a dying fish. "It shows how mad I am at you. I almost killed myself, out of spite for you." "ViVi, I'm so sorry..." "Yeah, you are sorry." And with that, I turn on my heel and sashay onto the stage.

I give my speech, tell about how I respect Katherine for her courage in the face of death, and receive another useless plaque. The feast looks good, but I can't bring myself to eat anything. I change into a t-shirt, some comfortable jeans, and then I put my hair up into a messy bun. Then Finnick, Marlin (much to my annoyance), and I are taken to a special farm where they have horses modeled after victors. They're mutts, genetically engineered to look like us by the Capitol, so that when Capitol citizens take a tour of the districts, they can pay to ride their favorite victor's horse. Some teenager named Dalton, who works at the stables, shows us our own horses.

Mine is tall, with a midnight black coat and unnerving sea-green eyes. I glance at the horse next to mine. It's identical to mine, but it's a little smaller, so I know it's Annie's horse. "I think your horse is the most beautiful one here," Marlin says, coming up behind me. "Well, Annie's horse looks identical to mine, so wouldn't they be tied?" I ask, purposely trying to piss him off. But Marlin keeps his cool as he shrugs.

I stroke my horse's nose for a while, then go up the row on the other side, looking at the others, seeing which ones I like the most. There's one with a golden coat and grey eyes that's really beautiful. I read the name-tag. Lyme DeMurphy, District 2 female, victor of the 51st Hunger Games.

I come around to Finnick, who's feeding his horse sugar cubes. I watch as he pops three in his mouth. "Want a sugar cube?" he asks seductively, holding some out to me in his cupped hand. "They're delicious!" he says brightly. "You know those are for the horses, right?" I ask him. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, princess. Like I haven't been told that the other three times I've been here. Oh, look, it's time to go!" He grabs a handful of sugar cubes and walks out, with me following him, Marlin trailing somewhere behind me. Wow, now I regret not eating at the feast, I'm so hungry. I hope I can get dinner on the train.

I kick Marlin out of our room after I order my dinner, telling him to sleep across the hallway if he wants to, because he's certainly not going to sleep in my room, not after what he's done. I lock the door so he can't back in. Around midnight, I wake myself up with my own screaming. The door handle jiggles as someone tried to come in to calm me down. I curl myself up into a ball and cry myself to sleep.


	31. Chapter 31

******Since I have got some pms about ViVi's victory tour dresses, I will post them all on my instagram, district4demigod. They'll also probably be under #victorytourdresses. But they won't be in order, so you'll have to scroll down to see which District I have it listed as.**Thanks to Zedd for the first song in this chapter, "Clarity" (feat. Foxes). Also, thanks to Selena Gomez and the Scene for "A Year Without Rain."

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Panem'in Hunger Games.**

District 9 is horrible. I stand there in my pink dress embroideres with gold-leaf ivy and roses while the families of Sarah and Wheat (that's what Finnick told me the boy's name is). I accept my plaque, gve my speech, say me part about Sarah and Wheat (*cough* weird name *cough* *cough*) pretend to eat at the feast. I walk to my room on the train when we're out of District 9, only to find Marlin sitting on my bed. His knees are drawn up to his chest, and he's holding two pictures.

I walk over to see which pictures. One is a picture of his now-dead family, and one is a picture of us at our wedding, the sun setting in the background. "You know, I'm only mad at you because you didn't tell me. I'm not angry with you because Snow used you. It was bound to happen eventually," I say, resting my hand on his knee. He gives an involuntary yelp as he shudders. Apparently he was so absorbed in the pictures that he didn't notice that I came in. He sighs.

"It's happening. Snow is tearing us apart," he says. "We can fix that when we get home. Just wondering, did Snow... tell you anything about me when you were n the Capitol?" "Um, no. Why do you ask?" I smile, relieved. "Oh, no reason at all. Now, it's time for bed." I lead him across the room and go back to my room. I sigh, because however broken I am, he's ten times worse. I need to be ready for District 8 tomorrow, so I try to get some sleep. But when I can't, I sing instead.

"High dive into frozen waves where the past comes back to life  
Fight fear for the selfish pain, it was worth it every time  
Hold still right before we crash 'cause we both know how this ends  
A clock ticks 'til it breaks your glass and I drown in you again

'Cause you are the piece of me I wish I didn't need  
Chasing relentlessly, still fight and I don't know why

If our love is tragedy, why are you my remedy?  
If our love's insanity, why are you my clarity?

Hey-ay, hey-ay-ay. Hey-ay, hey-ay-ay. Hey-ay, hey-ay-ay. Hey-ay, hey

If our love is tragedy, why are you my remedy?  
If our love's insanity, why are you my clarity?

Walk on through a red parade and refuse to make amends  
It cuts deep through our ground and makes us forget all common sense  
Don't speak as I try to leave 'cause we both know what we'll choose  
If you pull then I'll push too deep and I'll fall right back to you

'Cause you are the piece of me I wish I didn't need  
Chasing relentlessly, still fight and I don't know why

If our love is tragedy, why are you my remedy?  
If our love's insanity, why are you my clarity?

Hey-ay, hey-ay-ay. Hey-ay, hey-ay-ay. Hey-ay, hey-ay-ay. Hey-ay, hey

Why are you my clarity? Why are you my remedy?  
Why are you my clarity?  
Why are you my remedy?

If our love is tragedy, why are you my remedy?  
If our love's insanity, why are you my clarity?"

I eventually fall asleep to the rocking of the train. The screams begin in the middle of the night, and I can hear them from across the hall. It's like torture, hearing him say it.

"NO! TAKE ME INSTEAD! PLEASE! I'LL DO ANYTHING, JUST DON'T HURT HER! NO, PLEASE! ANYTHING, I'LL DO ANYTHING! DON'T HURT HER, SHE'S THE ONLY ONE I HAVE LEFT! YOU ALREADY KILLED THE REST OF THEM! SHE'S THE ONLY ONE LEFT! TAKE ME INSTEAD, PLEASE! SELL ME, KILL ME, I DON'T CARE! JUST DON'T HURT HER! NOOO, VICTORIA! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE! I DID WHAT YOU WANTED, DON'T HURT HER! SHE'S ALL I HAVE LEFT! NOOOOO!"

I hop out of bed, race all the way to his bedside, and start to shake him. He shaking so bad though, he probably doesn't even notice. "Marlin, wake up! I'm right here! I'm safe, I'm safe, they're not hurting me!" I scream, most likely succeeding in waking up everyone on the train that didn't hear Marlin first. It doesn't work. "PLEASE, ANYONE BUT HER! I LOVE HER, PLEASE!" I pinch his nose closed and kiss him on the lips. He splutters and heaves himself up into a sitting position. "NOOO... Oh, thank god!" He takes my face in his hands. After a few seconds, he hugs me so tight I almost can't breathe. I tickle his neck to make him let go, and tell him I need to sleep, so would please shut up. Then I lay down next him.

"Uhmm... do you want me to move to the next room?" he asks. I turn my head towards him. "Nope." He smiles. "Good. I need you." "Uh-huh, I know you do. Now if you would politely shut your mouth and go to sleep." "Fine, but how about one song? Please?" He sticks out his bottom lip. Damn, he has such a cute puppy face, it makes my heart melt. "Fine. ONE song."

"Ooh ooh ooh Ooh ooh ooh.

Can you feel me  
When I think about you?  
With every breath I take  
Every minute  
No matter what I do

My world is an empty place  
Like I'd been wandering the desert  
For a thousand days (oh)  
Don't know if it's a mirage  
But I always see your face, baby

I'm missing you so much  
Can't help it, I'm in love  
A day without you is like a year without rain  
I need you by my side  
Don't know how I'd survive  
A day without you is like a year without rain (oh, whoa)  
Whoa, oh, whoa

The stars are burning  
I hear your voice in my mind (voice in my mind)  
Can't you hear me calling?  
My heart is yearning  
Like the ocean that's running dry  
Catch me, I'm falling

It's like the ground is crumbling underneath my feet  
Won't you save me?  
There's gonna be a monsoon when you get back to me, oh, baby

I'm missing you so much  
Can't help it, I'm in love  
A day without you is like a year without rain  
I need you by my side  
Don't know how I'dd survive  
A day without you is like a year without rain (oh, whoa)  
Whoa, oh, whoa

So let this drought come to an end  
And make this desert flower again  
I'm so glad you found me  
Stick around me,  
Baby baby baby oooh

It's a world of wonder with you in my life  
So hurry, baby, don't waste no more time  
I need you here, I can't explain  
But a day without you is like a year without rain (oh, whoa)

I'm missing you so much  
Can't help it, I'm in love  
A day without you is like a year without rain  
I need you by my side  
Don't know how I'd survive  
A day without you is like a year without rain (oh, whoa)  
Whoa, oh, whoa

Ooh ooh ooh  
Ooh ooh ooh."

I look over at him. His eyes are closed, his eyelashes flutter gently, and his chest rises and falls slowly. He's already out like a light. I snuggle up against him. Oh, how did I even sleep without this?


	32. Chapter 32

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games.**

We pull up in District 8 little late, but my peach dress is easyto put on, so we make up lost time. Marlin carries to the door of the train while I laugh at the jokes he's telling me. "What did one tide pool say to the other tide pool?" "Um... I don't know." "Show me your mussels." I dissolve into giggles again. I give my speech, and lean over slightly to accept my plaque, because the mayor is like 5'1", and I'm like 5'9".

"Thank you all for making the clothes I have been wearing in the Capitol and on this tour. They're beautiful. Thank you again and have a good year!" I am delerious with joy for some reason. I meet Cecelia, one of the few victors from eight, whose hobby is sewing. I ask her to make me some things. She agrees in a motherly, even though she's only thirty or so. By the end of the feast, I am already looking up to her, because she is the epitome of good motherhood.

When Marlin and I get on the train, I pull him into my room. "I.. I have something to tell you," I say, biting my lip. Oh, to hell with my plan to reveal it in the Capitol, I can't hold this secret from him any longer. It wouldn't be fair to Marlin, not after what I heard last night. "Is something wrong?" he asks worriedly, putting his hands on my shoulders. "No, no, not at all. It's just that..." He looks at me expectingly. "I'm pregnant. With twins. Riverr and Riviera." He freezes. "Seriously?" I nod, laughing. "I was gonna tell you in the Capitol, but I couldn't wait another minute."

"That's... that's great!" He hugs me tightly. And keeps hugging me. "Okay, okay, if you hug me any tighter you'll crush them!" I joke. "That can happen?!" he yelps, letting go of me immediately. "Of course not, silly. But you were crushing ME. C'mon, it's late, let's go to bed." It really is late, so he undresses for bed, because he gets hot flashes if he wears a shirt. I just sit on the bed and stare into space.

"Come on, ViVi, you didn't look away! Where is your decency today?" Marlin asks, mimicking what I had said on the night of our wedding. I grin mischeviously. "We're married now, remember?" We both lay down, my head on his chest. He strokes my hair. "How did we get into this mess?" I am stunned by this question. "I didn't know it was a mess, Marlin!" "No, I mean loving each other in a loveless world like this. I'm not complaining, but how did it even happen?" he asks. "It all came down to that one choice, saving me," I say matter-of-factly.

That's how we met, when I was seven and he was eight. I was drowning, and he saved me. I don't know why I was drowning, because even back then I was a great swimmer, but he had pulled me up onto the beach and given me CPR. I had coughed up almost a half a gallon of water, he had once told me. I had also retched up my breakfast all over him, but he hadn't seemed to mind.

"Why did you save me? We had never met before, why put your life on the line for a stranger?" I ask. "Well, I couldn't let the prettiest girl in District 4 die with me watching, could I?" I roll my eyes and lay my head back on his chest. His rhythmic heartbeat is comforting. Between that and him stroking my hair, I fall asleep quickly. I have a sweet dream, Marlin and I walking on the beach, holding the hands of two little children, laughing and talking. A sweet dream, a dream where the Hunger Games don't exist.

I wake up at midnight to a wet pillow. No, it's Marlin's chest. He's having another hot flash. I shake him awake and get him a cold glass of water from the bathroom. He drains it in one gulp, then climbs into the shower and turns the cold tap on. After a few minutes, he steps out and puts on a new pair of shorts, since he didn't remember to take the FIRST pair off when he climbed into the shower. He towel-dries his hair and lays back down next me.

I put my head back on his chest and feel his heartbeat. Way too fast. I roll over and cross my arms on his chest, then rest my chin on them, so I can look at him. My eyes meet his. "Want to talk about it? You know talking about it helps." "Yeah, I know," he says, covering his face with his hands. "It was the same dream as last night, but this time... they were there." He gestures to my stomach. "And I had a gag over my mouth, and I couldn't seem to scream."

"It's okay. I had a dream about them, too. A good one, though. They had your hair and my eyes." He sighs. "I'm always so worried about you. That Snow will force you to do it, and I'll be powerless to stop him from making you do it." "Are Capitol people really that messed up?" "Yeah, they are." "If it's that bad, why not give in to the dream?"

"A rebellion is coming. I can feel it. I need to be a part of it. For both of us. We've both been pushed to edge more times than necessary. It's time we fought back." "But I don't want a rebellion if it means losing you. Anyway, Finnick says we need a spark. Someone to unite and ignite the districts. Someone who will make the Capitol see all the love they've ripped to shreds over the years. It'll be someone from a poor district, mark my words. Maybe even District 12," I say.

"With that old drunk Abernathy as a mentor? I don't think so." "Don't underestimate your peers, Marlin." "He of all people is NOT my peer, ViVi." "He's been through hell, just like the rest of us. Mags, Haymitch, Annie, Finnick, Chaff, Seeder, Cecelia, Beetee, Wiress, Lyme, you, me. We're all just good people in bad situation." "Yeah, 'cause Finnick's an innocent angel." "You should be grateful to him. He brought you home alive." "Yeah, me and my nightmares." "He brought ME home alive. And it's not his fault that the people in the Capitol treat him like a dirty rag. He only does it so they won't hurt Annie. You'd do the same for me. You already HAVE done the same for me." "Fine. I owe him two things. Your life and mine." "Make sure you thank him tonight."

"Tonight?" "Yeah, it's like one in the morning." "Then why are we awake?" "You had a hot flash, remember?" "Oh yeah..." He pulls me in. We both fall asleep to the gentle rocking of the train.


	33. Chapter 33

**Thanks to TigreMalabarista for favoriting! And whoeer reads this story and waits for the next chapter to be posted, I went back and read through everything. I had so many mistakes, it was horrible. So maybe one weekend soon, instead of updating, I'll go back and fix every mistake. I was SOOOO annoyed with myself, because they were all stupid mistakes, like forgetting words or leaving out letters. **

**Disclaimer: Not today. I woke up on the wrong side of the Seam this morning. What's that? No, how could I possibly own a part of District 12?**

Seven hours later, we're woken up none to gently by Leona. "Leona, how the HELL did you get in here? I locked the door on purpose so you COULDN'T get in here," I growl, very annoyed. "I have a key. I have keys to all the right places, just like you have knives in all the wrong places." "Too bad I don't have one in your head right about now. Oh, could you remind me later to get you a restraining order from President Snow?" Marlin stuffs his face into his pillow so Leona can't hear him laughing.

She rolls her eyes. "Here's your dress for Districts 5, 6, and 7!" she says, laying them on the and walking out the door. I take the soft fabric of the one for District 7 in my hands. A simple yet beautiful olive green dress with a belt with a simple folded top. I put it on and go through through the routine once again. For the day after, I have a white dress embroidered with something Finnick calls paisley on it (because of course the super-macho Finnick Odair knows what paisley is) to wear in District 6. Then District 5, where I'll have a yellow dress. Let's hope they aren't as rude as their girl tribute was before I killed her.

~Four days later~

The Capitol interview is tomorrow, and I don't want to walk down the street with all the weird people out there, so I send Finnick to pick up that stuff I ordered the day before the tour started. He comes back in about half an hour, his hair messed up, his darkly-tinted sunglasses askew, and trying to catch his breath. "The lady didn't give you a lot of trouble, did she?" I ask, alarmed at his shortness of breath as I open the box. Inside are little baby clothes with embriodered names on them.

"No, she didn't give me much trouble. Her head hit the floor pretty hard, though." "She FAINTED?!" "Yeah, but not before she asked some questions. She was all like "Are these for you? Who's the lucky mother?" and I was all like "Whoa, no way are these for me. I'm just picking them up for a client." And she was all like "Who?" and I was all like "ViVi Coast." Man, for a Capitol citizen she figured out who that was pretty quick. And then she started fanning herself and screaming. Then she fainted."

"YOU TOLD HER WHO I WAS?! NOW EVERYONE IN THE FRICKIN' CAPITOL WILL KNOW MY SECRET EVEN BEFORE THE INTERVIEW! GOD, FIFI, YOU ARE SO _STUPID_!" "And then... and then I was walking down the street, and a lady screamed, "Oh my god, it's Finnick Odair!" And then everyone screamed and started running after me, even the men, which is kinda disgusting, and I ran all the way back here." "Oh, you poor handsome thing," I snap sarcastically, not having time for his whiny crap. "You are going to drive me there RIGHT NOW, and you will wait for me while I threaten that lady so she won't tell anyone. "But I don't even know how to drive," he whines. "Well then, you're about to learn," I say, grinning evilly.

"What are those?" Leona asks nosily, peeking her head into the door. "NOTHING!" I yelp, shoving the clothes behind my back. She looks anyway, then begins to hypervenilate. "A baby! Why didn't you tell me?" "Gee, I wonder," I say, rolling my eyes. Finnick smirks. "This is so exciting!" I put my face really close to hers. "I am telling everyone tomorrow at the interview. If you tell anyone, I swear..." She nods and runs away. "Nice job, princess. Maybe I could hire you to scare all the screaming Capitol ladies away from me." "Well, I am the all-powerful Victoria Shores. Those girls think they can get to you? Well, they've got another thing coming," I say, cracking my knuckles. I grab the keys to a car parked in the train station, designed especially for victors visiting the Capitol, and shove them into his hands.

Marlin stops us in the hallway. "Where y'all going?" "Finnick's going to drive me to the place where he told a Capitol citizen that embroidered some baby clothes for that they were for me. Then I'm going to make her promise not to tell anyone." "Sounds cool. I'm going." Then he runs down the hall. "I call dibs on shotgun!" he yells after us. "Damn, Marlin, I wanted to sit in the front!" I complain. "Then you should have called dibs!" he yells back. I roll my eyes and follow them.

Marlin ends up riding shotgun. Worst. Idea. Ever. Finnick swerves around the cars in other lanes while Marlin shout out orders. "Ten points if you can hit that stop sign!" Marlin screams. BOOM. The stop sign goes flying. I make sure my seat belt is buckled. Lord knows I'll need it. Oh no, I hear a siren. I look out the window in the back and see a peacekeeper car. "Twenty points if you can hit that ad for Groosling Noodle Soup!" Marlin yells. The ad gets trampled. Finnick and Marlin laugh like maniacs. I slam open the glass that separates the front from the back. "Pull the damn car over, FiFi! The peacekeepers are after us!"

He pulls the car over and a peacekeeper comes up to his window. "Sir, I'm going to ask you to come with me," a feminine voice tells Finnick. He stares at her. "Do you know who I am?" he asks. "No, nor do I care. You have to come-" He slides his sunglasses down his nose, so she can see his eyes. The lady goes silent. "Yeah, I thought so." I roll my eyes and get out of the car. "Get out of the car, Finnick, I'm driving from now on. The lady speaks up, but when she sees who I am she goes silent again. Finnick reluctantly switches seats with me. Good, now I'm the one in control. No more near death experiences today.

"Now, can we go, Miss? My interview is tomorrow, and I have errands to run." "I can't just let him go..." "Tell you what. If you let me go, the next time I'm in the Capitol, I'll... take you out to dinner," Finnick says. The lady smiles and makes a call me sign with her hand as she walks away. I roll the window up and start driving, my hands clenched on the wheel. I've never driven a car before, so I don't go a mile over thirty. "Finnick, you need to realize that your good looks aren't going to get you everywhere in life. Someday you'll be old and wrinkly, just like everyone else," I say sternly.

"But here's the thing, princess. My looks ARE going to get me everywhere in life. Just face it. I'm immaculate, and I'll always be immaculate." "You need to stop flirting with people so easily. It's sooooo not attractive," I argue. "Well, he gets some pretty cool free stuff. I'd say he's doing pretty good," Marlin say reasonably. Finnick high-fives him while I facepalm myself. Boys are so oblivious to the bad things that they could do in life. We're finally there. I crack my knuckles.

"Time to scare some Capitol ass into silence, boys."

**The worst idea ever part is a reference to my favorite part of the Serpent's Shadow, the third book of the Kane Chronicles, where Bes and Sadie it demons with Bes's limo while Carter tries not to have a heart attack in the back seat. You should read the books, they're good. I think I would make the best Sadie ever, if it was made into a movie.**


	34. Chapter 34

**Thanks to Audrey-Marie and hungergamespettalover (and that's not a typo- that's their actual username) for favoriting and following! And it's official, I'm in love with Jace Wayland's (from The Mortal Instruments) sense to love him. I would say I'm in love with him, but I ship Clace too hard of love him. And if you review and put something about TMI, DON'T DO IT, because I'm only part way though City of Bones. And I changed my instagram nam. To district4_shadowhunter, in case you want to see the dresses.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games. I do not own a Mockingjay novel. Now I can't make myself cry when go to I lie to my mother about how hard my brother punched me.**

"Now, when she talks to me, whereever she takes me, just stay here and try not to touch anything," I tell them. They both roll their eyes. I slip on sunglasses, because the last thing I need to happen is someone screaming about who I am. And now I realize that I should have left the two imbeciles behind me on the train with Leona. Trust them to mess this up by asking some client of the embroidering lady if they can have a quarter for the candy machine.

The lady behind the counter looks up at the three of us, then looks directly at Finnick and smiles widely, revealing hot-pink teeth that match her hair. I automatically do a gaga reflex, because pink teeth are just wrong, but I manage to disguise it as a cough. I lay my hands on the counter. Wow, she's tiny, because all three of us tower over her. "Hello, my name is Bernadette. How may I help you?" "It's her," Finnick whispers from behind me. Her head snaps in his direction, and she smiles even wider.

"Um, my employee here-" I glare at Finnick- "let slip some... information about me, and I've come to fix that." "Ah, yes. Mrs. Marino- "It's Shores." I hate when people call me Ms. Marino. "Whatever. Come in the back." Well, isn't she rude? Stay here, I mouth to them. Finnick immediately slumps into a chair next to the counter. Marlin goes and studies the fishtank, looking at it with a disgusted sneer on his face.

"Sit. Would you like a drink?" "Do you have hot tea?" She presses a button on a tiny little coffeemaker and then hands me a cup. I wrap my hands around it and take small sips. It warms me to the bone. Maybe that's because it's so damn cold outside.

"So, about that information," I begin. She takes a seat across the table from me. "Yes, River and Riviera." I decide to lie, to play it up on her conscience until she can't refuse. "Well, I need you to be quiet about it. You, see my husband doesn't know bout them, and it would break my heart if I wasn't the one to tell him. It would put such a damper on our relationship if you spoiled it." She leans forward and narrows her eyes. "But why shouldn't I/ I'd be name would probably make the front page of the paper."

"If you tell anybody... well, you watched my games, right? So you know how well i can throw knives and axes. I am on President Snow's good side, and that fact alone can make or break you. For instance, instead of having your name in the papers for snitching that I'm going to have a baby, you could have you name AND your picture in the obituary." She gulps.

"What's in it for me? "I think hard. "You... you can be godmother." "Good. I'll look forward to my name in the paper." "If you break your word and tell someone, I hope that you remeber that I always have knives hidden up my sleeves." A lie, of course, but she doesn't need to know the truth. Her skin goes from the delicate orange to a sickly apricot color. I slip on my sunglasses and smile at her as I walk out.

I flick Finnick in the head to get him up and grab Marlin by the collar of his shirt, dragging them both to the door. I don't want to be in this awful place anymore. I shove Finnick into the backseat and start the engine up. Soon we're in the mainstream of Capitol traffic, moving an inch every ten minutes.

"What did you threaten her with?" Marlin asks curiously. Trust him to talk about how I threaten people. "She wanted her name in the paper. I told her that I could get her name and her picutre in the obituary section." Marlin smirks. "But then I had to make her the godmother. We don't have to tell anybody, and nobody will believe her if she claims to be the godmother." Marlin grins. Finnick opens the glass. "You know, I think we should all wear sunglasses all the time. I look pretty cool with these on."

I laugh. "Yeah we should get Annie- Finnick makes a noise like air leaking out of a tire. "Don't even ay it, princess." "I was just saying that we should get her some. I was her best friend before her games, I know what she likes. What is wrong with you, FiFi?" "What's wrong with me? Do you even know what it's like to live someone who's crazy?" Finnick growls. I snort. "Of course I know what it's like to live wityh someone who's crazy. I live with Marlin, and your neighbor," I say sarcastically. "HEY!''

**R&R, please!**


	35. Chapter 35

**Thanks to turtlexoxo for favoriting and following! Thanks to Anna Kendrick from her sing "Cups", from the movie _Pitch Perfect._ Thanks also to Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran (GINGER PRIDE, BABY!) for their song "Everything Has Changed."**

**Disclaimer: Maybe you've heard that the word twirking has been added to the dictionary. (Is that even spelled right? I really don't think I want to know!) If you look under it, you should see, and I quote (not really) "see also: Miley Cyrus." Now look up the word disclaimer. See where it says, and I quote (again, not really): "see also: District4girl's story"?**

I slip my sequined red dress over my head and sigh as I look in the mirror. It's a good thing this is the last stop. Too bad Marlin isn't on stage with me. He could play his guitar with me. Leona told me today that I had to learn two songs because the Capitol people wanted to hear me sing again. I would refuse, but I don't even feel strong enough to say it. "Pretend you don't know about it. The cameras will eat it up," I whisper as I throw my arms around Marlin's neck and bury my face in his shirt. I feel him nod.

I hear Caesar call my name and I walk out, smiling and waving and pretending to love being here is hard. I just want to sit in the chair, answer some questions, sing my songs, and then leave. But of course they have to milk it out. I almost collapse in the chair. "How's the married life treating you?" Caesar asks immediately. I flash a fake, bright smile to the audience. "Impeccably great. We'll probably have to extend the house!" Then I giggle like a lovestruck ditz for good measure.

The audience goes quiet, then erupts into screaming and fainting colorful people. It's actually quite scary. "Is that what I think it means?!" I nod and flash another fake smile. "Twins!" I announce. "Have you told Marlin yet?" Caesar asks. I shake my head wearily. He points to the camera and does a few gestures. Suddenly there's Marlin and Finnick up on the big screen where they show the games to the victors.

Marlin pretends to look shocked, but I can tell it's fake. I'm probably the only one, though, hopefully. Finnick, who's a great actor from years of the playboy act, is great at pretending. He grins, pounds Marlin on the back, and gives him one of those one-armed man hugs that I can't stand. Then here comes the part I've been dreading. "Do you think you could sing a few songs for us?" The audience screams. I guess I have no choice now. I glance offstage at Marlin, who gives me a thumbs-up. I take my breath and try to muster up my strength.

"I've got my ticket for the long way 'round  
Two bottle whiskey for the way  
And I sure would like some sweet company  
And I'm leaving tomorrow. What d'you say?

When I'm gone, when I'm gone  
You're gonna miss me when I'm gone  
You're gonna miss me by my hair  
You're gonna miss me everywhere, oh  
You're gonna miss me when I'm gone

When I'm gone, when I'm gone  
You're gonna miss me when I'm gone  
You're gonna miss me by my walk  
You're gonna miss me by my talk, oh  
You're gonna miss me when I'm gone

I've got my ticket for the long way 'round  
The one with the prettiest of views  
It's got mountains, it's got rivers  
It's got sights to give you shivers  
But it sure would be prettier with you

When I'm gone, when I'm gone  
You're gonna miss me when I'm gone  
You're gonna miss me by my walk  
You're gonna miss me by my talk, oh  
You're gonna miss me when I'm gone

When I'm gone, when I'm gone  
You're gonna miss me when I'm gone  
You're gonna miss me by my hair  
You're gonna miss me everywhere, oh  
You're gonna miss me when I'm gone

When I'm gone, when I'm gone  
You're gonna miss me when I'm gone  
You're gonna miss me by my walk  
You're gonna miss me by my talk, oh  
You're gonna miss me when I'm gone."

"Great choice! Got anymore?" Caesar asks when the audience stops yelling. I nod my head, even though I feel like dropping. Why am I so tired?

"All I knew this morning when I woke  
Is I know something now, know something now I didn't before.  
And all I've seen since eighteen hours ago  
Is blue eyes and freckles in your smile  
In the back of my mind making me feel right

I just wanna know you better, know you better, know you better now  
I just wanna know you better, know you better, know you better now

'Cause all I know is we said, "Hello."  
And your eyes look like coming home  
All I know is a simple name  
Everything has changed  
All I know is you held the door  
You'll be mine and I'll be yours  
All I know since yesterday is everything has changed

And all my walls stood tall painted blue  
And I'll take them down, take them down and open up the door for you

And all I feel in my stomach is butterflies  
The beautiful kind, making up for lost time,  
Taking flight, making me feel right

I just wanna know you better, know you better, know you better now  
I just wanna know you better, know you better, know you better now  
I just wanna know you better, know you better, know you better now  
I just wanna know you, know you, know you

'Cause all I know is we said, "Hello."  
And your eyes look like coming home  
All I know is a simple name  
Everything has changed  
All I know is you held the door  
And you'll be mine and I'll be yours  
All I know since yesterday is everything has changed

Come back and tell me why  
I'm feeling like I've missed you all this time, oh, oh, oh.  
And meet me there tonight  
And let me know that it's not all in my mind.

I just wanna know you better, know you better, know you better now  
I just wanna know you, know you, know you

All I know is we said, "Hello."  
And your eyes look like coming home  
All I know is a simple name  
Everything has changed  
All I know is you held the door  
You'll be mine and I'll be yours  
All I know since yesterday is everything has changed

All I know is we said, "Hello."  
So dust off your highest hopes  
All I know is pouring rain and everything has changed  
All I know is a new found grace  
All my days I'll know your face  
All I know since yesterday is everything has changed."

"Another great one! So, got any name ideas?" he asks. I sit up straighter. Finally, a question that I'll have no problem answering. "Well, they're twins, so I'm thinking River and Riviera." "Perfect choice. As I recall, your district partner was named River, and Marlin's district partner was named Riviera, am I right?" I flinch before nodding slowly.

"Ok, let's watch a clip of the wedding!" We watch it for an hour, before seeing me wave to the cameras sarcastically before shutting the doors to the reception. I smile. "Tell me, ViVi, what was going through your mind during the ceremony?" "Obviously love, it was and still is the best day of my life. And that dress was really heavy." The audience laughs. "Sorry, ladies and gentlemen, but that's all the time we have with Victoria Ma-" he sees the look on my face and quickly rephrases his words- "Um, Victoria Shores, victor of the 61st Hunger Games!"

I walk backstage, where Marlin keeps up the act because the cameras are still trained on us. He pulls me into a hug and my feet leave the floor (did I mention he's like 6'3"?). He kisses my for at least a minute before putting me down. The cameras, apparently satisfied with their intrusion, are shut off. I stumble as we leave. "Whoa, somebody's tired!" Marlin laughs as he picks me up bridal-style and starts to walk again. "You have no idea," I mumble, before laying my head on his chest and falling asleep.

**~A day later~**

The next day, Marlin and I walk back to Victor's Village with Finnick. The sun has almost set completely. As he checks his mailbox, Annie peeks her head out of the door. "David, is that you?" Finnick flinches so hard the slot of the mailbox slams down on his fingers. I speak up. "Um, it's Victoria, Marlin, and Finnick." "Oh, the famous Finnick Odair came to visit me?" She giggles and bats her eyelashes. Finnick looks down at his smashed fingers, pretending to examine them, but I can see him blushing. I roll my eyes.

"Oh, Marlin, since you're my mentor, can you tell David that I need to talk to him about that alliance we had in the arena?" Annie asks while waving her hands in front of Finnick's bent over frame, trying to get him to look her in the eye. Marlin glances at me, then at her, then at Finnick. "When I see him," he finally says. Finnick waves goodbye to us, then leads her inside. I unlock our door and collapse on the couch. "Oh no, if you sleep on that thing you'll wake up feeling like a bamboo fishing pole," Marlin says sharply. I flip over to face him and raise my eyebrow quizzically. "Um... it's just really uncomfortable," he says. I laugh and get up.

When we get upstairs, I collapse on the bed. Yeah, I'm glad he made me get up, because this is so much more comfortable. "Can I try something?" Marlin asks after collapsing face-down next to me. "Whatever," I say sleepily. He lays his head on my still-flat stomach. "Hey, babies, this is your daddy speaking. I thought you ought to know that your mother is the most beautiful person in the world. She's gonna be a great mom, I just know it," he whispers. I smile. Yeah, I love my life so far.

**If everyone would be so nice as to send me name ideas for girls? They have to do something with the ocean, like Azula, Coral, Pearl, and Riviera, but other than that, there's no requirements. It's for towards the end of the story. I was goin to use Madeline and Anna for a pair of twin girls, but there's already three sets of twins in this story. (counting Cashmere and Gloss, who come in later.) Seriously, it's like there's something in the water. Anyway, I appreciate it. R&R, please!**


	36. Chapter 36

**Thanks to NamikaziMia for followin and favoriting! We're past 2,500 views! I'm so excited!**

**Disclaimer: Not today.**

**"**Delphine- "I VOLUNTEER!" A muscular blonde-haired girl in a poofy black dress pushes her way from the eighteen year old section to the stage. She launches herself up the steps and comes to a stop near the bowl, towering over Leona in the process. "I am Khepri Urchin, District 4's next victor," she tells the crowd. "Well, isn't she modest?" I say sarcastically. Marlin snorts.

I know I look awful enough to not have to stand on the stage, not that Marlin would tell me. I'm exhausted, but of course Snow insisted that I mentor this year. "I call the boy," I shout quickly, saying the words that were on tip of Marlin's tongue. He groans and puts his head down on the table. "Good luck getting her to be more modest, though," I say, smiling sympathetically at him. "Wouldn't call the shots now, ViVi," he says, glancing at the screen and grinning. "Seen your boy lately?" On stage is the skinny little boy they called last year, the one River volunteered for. Oh god, no. And nobody volunteers, so I'm stuck with the boy who River saved.

By the time they get on the train, Marlin and I are sitting in comfy chairs at a table for four. Well, it was for five, but no need for Leona to heckle that poor boy. "Khepri and Ray, these are your mentors, Marlin and Victoria," Leona twirps. "Yeah, I know that already," Khepri sneers, rolling her eyes. Up close, she looks freaky. Her long blonde hair has strips that are dyed black and crimson. Her eyes are heavily outlined with kohl, and her lipstick is the exact color of blood. Her dress has tiny red skulls and crossbones on it that I didn't notice before, and her necklace is a chainlink made to look like bones. I kick Marlin lightly under the table and make what I hope is subtle look of digust to him. He glances at me and kicks back.

Ray is short and skinny, with a thin face. His clothes look like they're two sizes too big for him. "Okay, I want him as my mentor, because you'll probably present me as some lovestruck ninny. Also, HE better not hold me back," Khepri says, glancing towards Ray and wrinkling her nose, the look on her face somehwere between pity and disgust. Well excuse me, Miss Rudeness, but Marlin was the reason I had a lovestruck angle during my games.

"Oh, and I don't want you to have the chance to screw it up with all the sponsors I'll have." 'That's fine with me. I really don't feel like getting sponsors for a bitch like you." She glares at me. Ray smiles and starts laughing, and even Marlin grins sheepishly, but I just smile coldly. "So, what weapons do you guys use?" Marlin asks. Khepri answers instantly, of course.

"I'm good with just about every weapon, and I'm really strong." "Are you hunger-prone?" I ask, leaning forward. "What kind of question is that? She's not my mentor anyway, so does she even have the right to question me like that?" Khepri growls, glancing at Marlin with an expectant look on her face. His eyes flash with anger. "Yeah, she DOES have the right to question you. And don't back talk to her like that, because as your mentor, I can easily ignore sponsors and get you nothing for the arena," Marlin growls right back. "Now, hunger-prone means that you know what it's like to starve."

"Of course not. I'm a career, I have the cornucopia. Duh." I roll my eyes. How arrogant can she be? "Duh, they didn't have food in the cornucopia last year, dur- "The gamemakers won't do that twice. It makes for a bad show." "You know, Khepri, if your survival depended on how much I like you as of now, you'd die first," I say sweetly. She slams her palms down on the table before storming out.

"You know, she reminds me of somebody I know," Marlin says. Her door slams shut from down the hallway. He snaps his fingers. "I know. It's you!" "Marlin Hudson Shores, you better take that back right now." "I take it back." "Okay, Ray, what are you good at?" "Uh, I'm butcher's son, so I know how to use knives and short swords, and I'm top of my class at school." I nod.

"Good. I like smart people, they remind me of myself," Khepri calls from down the hallway. She must have been listening to us. " Really? I tagged you as the ditzy blonde of the career pack right when you walked through that door," I call down the hallway. Her door slams again.

**~About a week later~**

Training comes and goes. Khepri gets a ten, and Ray manges to pull an eight. The girl from District Two, Enobaria Napolitano, gets an eleven. Cecelia gives me the bibs I asked her to make. Beetee gives me two mobiles with little sea creatures.

Marlin gives me a tour of the mentoring hub (the floor below the training center in the basement of the tribute apartment building), on the morning of the beginning of the games, taking advantage of my speechlessness at the sight of it to get a few words in edgewise. He shows me our little cubby, where we will stay until the end of the games. It's filled with different screens for statistics, sponsor money, and vitals and locations of your tributes.

It also has a trash can and a drawer full of little white pills that Marlin says are like drinking eight cups of coffee at 9 o'clock at night. Whatever they are, I really don't want to find out. We take a seat as the tribute rise on their plates. A wave of nausea rolls over me, like an ocean wave. Looking around the desert arena, Khepri licks her lips and smirks with anticipation. I think I'm about to find out why they have a trash can in here. When the gong rings, Khepri leaps off her plate gleefully and runs straight towards the biggest sword I have ever seen.

I grab the trash can and lose my lunch. Marlin grimaces and covers my eyes so I can't see the screen with one hand, wrapping his other arm around me protectively. By the end of the bloodbath, I've lost breakfast too. "It's normal, don't worry," Marlin whispers in my ear before kissing my forehead. I lay my head on his shoulder, sighing. This is going to be a long month.

**~Some time later~**

On the ninth day, Ray is killed by Khepri because he didn't agree with one of her ideas. I feel like slitting her throat. Marlin immediately stops her steady flow of sponsor gifts. On the fifteenth day, Khepri gets her throat ripped open by Enobaria's teeth. I lose my lunch again. Lyme looks like she's going to use the trash can too. Even Brutus looks disgusted.

I go to grab Marlin's hand when a blinding pain hits me. I clench down on his hand so hard I can almost hear the bones break. He turns back to look at me, concern- no, fear- evident in his eyes. "Marlin, take me to the hospital!" I whisper-yell. His eyes go so wide, he looks ridiculous and adorable at the same time. "I- I'll drive you there."

**~Two hours later~**

Marlin hands me a little blue blanket. Then he looks at her as though he's never seen a baby in his entire life. I stare down, trying to get myself to believe it. Sea-green eyes stare back out at me, and I reach down and touch his light brown hair. A form slips under the door, and Marlin fills it out. Names, hair/eye color, gender. I look down to find River staring at me.

"See, I told you that they'd think you're beautiful," Marlin says. "He just can't stop staring."


	37. Chapter 37

**Just to let y'all know, sometimes I change the words to the songs I use so they fit in with the story better.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games.**

Home again, been back for six months. Life is good, despite the fact that Enobaria gets here tomorrow, with her newly implanted golden fangs that she showed off in District 1 a week ago. My favorite thing to do now is sing to Riv and Rivi, as Marlin and I call them. Since District 4 is stricter than most districts, the peacekeepers made a new rule where even victors have to go to school until they're nineteen.

Since I turned nineteen in July, I can stay home. But Marlin stopped going to school when he was fifteen, so Snow made him go back to school, but just for this year, thank god. He's probably the worst student at the entire school, because the teacher's can't give him punishments for not doing homework. It's odd not having him the entire day, but I have Riv and Rivi, so I'm kept busy.

"You are my sunshines,

My brightestest sunshines,

You make me glad, each and every day.

Oh, you don't know dears, how much I love you.

They can't take my sunshines away."

But even as I sing it to them, I know it isn't true. They can take my sunshines away. Wait twelve years, and they'll be in the reaping bowl, waiting to be shipped to the arena and to their death. To think that I possibly have only twelve years until they take two of my three sunshines away is almost unbearable. Hasn't the Capitol done enough to my family without hurting my children? They gave Marlin and I the nightmares that make us wake up screaming every night, making the twins start crying, which results in another two hours of singing to them softly to get them to go to sleep.

Speaking of the Capitol, Snow has written to us several times, imploring us to send pictures of Riv and Rivi to the main Capitol newspaper so everyone can see what they look like. Marlin and I don't even hesitate to refuse. The twins don't know their parents are famous. And they don't need to.

**~Seven months Later~**

Seven months later, I find out that Beetee's prediction is correct. The little girl from District 7, Johanna Mason, takes home the crown of the 63rd Hunger Games, becoming District 7's first female victor. Where my crown was encrusted with pearls and opals, hers is thin flexible twigs with green leaves woven through metal.

She surprised us all, even Blight. Especially Blight. Everything about her had screamed weakness. The way she had screamed as the peackeepers dragged her to the reaping stage in District 7, her training score of 2, her interview. But now I know that she had been putting her unsurpassed acting ability to work every time. We all figured it out when her district partner had found her and had teased her mercilessly. She had brained him with her hand-made wooden axe, a result of hours of meticulous carving with her small pocket-knife.

I also know that her family will be targeted. She scammed everyone, and I can tell Snow is angry. I can't feel bad for her, she'll kind of deserve it. But I also have some sympathy for her, because she killed eight people, including five careers. She'll have nightmares for the rest of her life.

And my tribute from this year? Murphy lurks in the corners of my head, constantly asking me why I didn't bring him home alive in my nightmares. I don't know why, maybe because Johanna Mason's a axe-wielding pychopathic bitch? I certainly tried hard enough to help him. I tried hard enough, right?


	38. Chapter 38

**Disclaimer: Finnick: "Sorry, but nobody owns me anymore. Or any of us, for that matter."**

A year after Johanna Mason's stunning victory, Cashmere Martinez takes the crown for District 1. And I know why my tribute was killed by her knife. He should have had a shield to defend himself, a shield that I didn't send him, because I wasn't even in the hub for the final battle.

My feet drag on the floor as I stumble through my silent house, pulling my duffel bag behind me. Marlin must be with out with the children. We have three children now. A boy named Kai was born in February. He looks just like Marlin, with his wide, icy blue eyes that never seem to blink and his curly wisp of honey-blonde hair.

I collapse onto my bed and curl into a ball. Tears start streaking down my cheeks as I sob loudly. I feel so disgusted, so violated. After a while, I hear whispering outside from the hallway outside the bedroom door. I automatically reach for the knife that I still keep under my pillow.

"Go to your rooms," a voice commands. I know the voice, but I can't put a name to it. It sound kind of like that Capitol man who... I shake the thought out my head. The door creaks open and I throw the knife without looking. I can hear it quiver as it lodges itself into the wall.

"Geez, ViVi, what if that was one of the child- on god, what's wrong?" Marlin asks, sounding concerned as he walks across the room to comfort me. He reaches down to hug me,but I duck out of the way. "Don't touch me!" I shriek.

He sits down next to me on the mattress. "ViVi, what happened? Did one of the other victors die?" he asks tenderly. "He... he... he..." I burst into tears again. He tries to wrap his arm around me. "Don't touch me!" I scream.

"You need to relax. How about I go and run you a hot bath?" I finally get myself under control enough to nod and stammer my thanks. When he's done, I slide in and close the foggy glass door for privacy.

"Marlin, are you still in here?" "Yeah, Rivi's got swimmer's ear, I'm looking for the ear drops in the medicine cabinet." Time to give in to the dream from what seems like forever ago. I certainly feel crappy enough to do it now. I stick my head under the water.

Even underwater, I can still hear Marlin talking to me. "Hey, do you know how many drops of this stuff I should put in Rivi's ear?" He waits for my reply. I keep my ahead underwater, waiting to become guilt-free.

"ViVi? VIVI!" The glass door slams against the wall as he drags me out of the bathtub. I kick and scream and try to bite him. "Let me go! Put me down! You can't stop me from doing this, Marlin! I can do whatever I want!"

He wraps a towel around me, plops me down on the bed, and holds met hands and feet down so I can't try to harm him or myself. "ViVi, what has gotten into you? You were fine when you left! Are you sick or something?"

I turned my eyes downward, ashamed to look him in the eye. "Snow... he... he sold me... he sold me four times..." Marlin snatches his hands away from and curls them up into fists, beating them on the nightstand.

"I'll kill him," he growls. Then, "What did you do?" I arch my eyebrow. "What do you mean, what did I do? I got called in, just like you did on my tour." He hugs me, and I manage not to scream, but I whisper in his ear for him to let go of me. "I'm sorry. It's late, I'll go put the monsters to sleep."

Soon the entire house is quiet. Marlin goes to lay down next to me when I stop him. "You can't sleep here. I can't do this anymore." "What do you mean?" He sounds confused. "I cheated on you. I feel awful about it, and I can't live knowing I did that to you. And you're mad at me."

"You were forced to do it, so don't feel guilty about it. And I'm not mad at you!" "Yes, you are. How do you think I feel when you go to the Capitol?" He looks stricken. "Alright, I'm mad, but not at you. I'm angry at the Capitol for doing this to you."

I nod. "But please, just leave me alone," I say tiredly. He sighs and pulls the knife out of my dresser drawer, the one I use in case the one from under my pillow doesn't skewer whoever I'm aiming for. "Wouldn't want you trying to kill yourself during the night, would we? I'll sleep on the couch."

He kissed my forehead and walks out. I fall into a fitful sleep. Marlin wakes me up five times from nightmares where brightly colored Capitol citizens surround me. Every time, he holds me in his muscled arms tightly until I realize he's touching me. Then I scream at him to get away from me.

"This is why I'll fight," he whispers in my ear every time, before going back to the couch. I can hear his screams, too, and Kai cries nonstop. Around two in the morning, I hear Mags take the children to her house so they can actually they some sleep. I'm starting to believe it would've been better to die in the arena than to live with the nightmares.


	39. Chapter 39

**Disclaimer: I'm sorry, are you talking to me? Haymitch had that chip implanted into my head, and he's drunk, saying something about ducks and somebody named Will Herondale, whoever that is. (whoever that is, I don't own him- it's a popular picture on instagram. Seriously, look up ducks and i swear half of them have something to do with Will Herondale.) Anyway, Haymitch is talking loudly and I can't hear you.**

A year later, also part of Beetee's prediction, Gloss Martinez follows his sister with another victory for District 1. Two of District 4's best tributes in years, Shard Blackfin and Brooke Foster, both killed off by Gloss's lnives in the top five. I'm pregnant again, this time a girl.

This year is Coral and Pearl's first reaping, and I'm scared out of my mind for them. Last night I fell asleep on the couch and I woke up screaming because I had a nightmare that both of them went into the same games, because no one volunteered.

Rivi had asked me what was wrong. She's only four years old and she doesn't know the evils of this world, so why tell her? "I dreamed that daddy was drowning." She had looked confused. "But daddy swims . Don't worry, momma, I save daddy from drowning." I had hugged her so tight she had complained. Then all five of us had gone for a picnic.

Azula promised me she would volunteer for them if they got reaped. I got some of the victors to train her. I got Finnick to give her trident lesson, but she just kept staring at him, so I got Marlin to do it instead. That might not be a good idea, considering her past crushes on him, but it's the only consolation I have that she'll be ready. Ray teaches her how to turn regular household objects into deadly weapons. Azula learns how to throw a spear, thanks to Sandy. Amphitrite gives her archery, knife-throwing, and snare making lessons. Hyacinth teaches her how to sword-fight, and I help by sparring with her, with plastic swords, of course.

I don't do any weapons, though, because what if I was teaching her how to swing an axe and on of my children walked out? So I do etiquette and survival skills. Meaning I teach her which plants are edible and how to sit and act like a lady.

Reaping day comes, and since I'm mentoring this year, I am required to be on stage. Marlin isn't mentoring, but he's there anyway, holding my hand, praying with me that Azula or the twins get picked. They can't get picked. Combined, they only have seven slips in the reaping bowl.

Leona, who I have grown to strongly dislike instead of completely abhore, squeals her introduction. then goes over to the boys bowl. "Julian Oceanus." An eighteen year old makes his way through the crowd. I remember him. He's the mayor's son, the one Azula invited to my wedding as a friend. So why did I think his name was Guy? "His nickname is Guy, in case you're wondering," Finnick whispers beside me. "Thanks for the tip." "Anytime, princess."

"Next, the girls!" Leona trills. "Pearl Marino!" I cry out in fear and shock. Marlin grimaces and squeezes my hand reassuringly. All eyes go to me, where everyone can see the tears rolling down my cheeks. Through my tears, I find Pearl in the twelve-year old section, still holding Coral's hand, her face frozen in a mixture of shock and horror.

"I volunteer!" Thank god. But it's Azula. Why didn't the girl that was picked by the training center volunteer? Oh well, it's too late now. Azula walks up the stairs confidentally and catches my eye as she walks across the stage. I see a glint of fear, then it's gone. "What's your name, dear?" Leona asks. "Azula." "And how old are you? I didn't see you come out of your section." "I'm one year older than I was last year." i smile.

Leona makes her eyes and makes them shake hands. I see Azula shaking Julian's hand as hard as she can. But there's no time to wonder why. I walk into the conference room in the Justice Building. "Take care of Coral and Pearl and my dad, please," I cry into Marlin's chest. "If... if Azula comes close to dying, make sure the twins and Kai don't see it. They don't need to see their aunt get murdered on live television."

"This is why I'll fight," he whispers into my ear. "No mother should ever have to say that about her children and her sister." He kisses me and digs in his pocket until he pulls out a ncklace, which he puts in my hands. A charm in the shape of a shark tooth, covered in a layer of opal. "It was my sister's," he whispers as he hugs me again. "Give it to Azula for her token." I thank him and kiss him. He pats my stomach and kisses me one last time.

Then Leona call my name. As I walk down the hallway, I'm joined by Finnick, who's been sitting with Annie in another conference room. I look back one last time. River is waving at me. I turn away as tears well in my eyes. For me, it's a another month without my sunshines. For Riv and Rivi, it's just another month without their mother in their lives. Why do I have to leave again?


End file.
